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Not again.
Matheus Nunes hared into the box, ready to finish a beautiful Manchester City counter-attack to put them ahead at Brentford. Here was the moment for the emergency right-back to prove how ‘clever’ Pep Guardiola had joked about being and start life without Kyle Walker with a big moment to show that the big Blue machine keeps on whirring.
Instead, Nunes took a heavy touch, turned into trouble, and the chance was gone. As perfect a script as it would have been, City aren’t having close to a perfect season.
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It’s why they went into this game without their club captain in the squad as he seeks a move abroad, why they have already agreed fees for two players in a January window they don’t like to shop in, and why a Liverpool win over Nottingham Forest suited them more than the reverse because the top four fight is more important than the title race at this point. And why they blew a two-goal lead with ten minutes to go to make another point feel like a defeat.
The finishing was not there for a long time. Savinho fired over moments after Nunes had fumbled his chance, the winger hit the post after a blistering second-half run and Erling Haaland planted a header straight at Mark Flekken from eight yards out.
It was also not a typical City performance, a team that craves control instead being happier on the counter with the pace of Savinho, Haaland and Phil Foden complementing the lightning quick brain of Kevin De Bruyne. A team not built for transitions found they preferred them.
However, Brentford are a team that force you into areas you are not comfortable – they scored inside the opening minute in the reverse fixture at the Etihad – and prey on your weaknesses. It takes guile and guts to stand your own against them, and City have not had loads of that recently.
After months of not being able to do the basics right, this was much better from the Blues on a night when they paid tribute to the death of club legend Tony Book before the game and then all put a shift in that Skip would have enjoyed. They coped well enough with the threat of Yoane Wissa and Brian Mbuemo at a ground where Brentford have accrued 22 of their 27 points this season and built on that stability to pose questions in attack.
It wasn’t all great, but there was the sense that something was shifting. When Guardiola cried aloud that De Bruyne hadn’t fouled Mbuemo to stop a dangerous Brentford counter, Gvardiol came up with a crunching block to save he day; when Brentford had a goal disallowed for offside, City went up the other end and scored.
It was a beauty too, Savinho cutting inside and finding the right pass to De Bruyne for the Belgian to whip a wicked ball into the box that Foden guided home on the volley as if he was still playing last season. Every player bar Ortega huddled together in the corner of the Gtech Community Stadium to celebrate as City got the reward for a united display.
Brentford weren’t about to join in the victory parade, and within minutes of conceding they had forced a magnificent Nathan Ake clearance and an eyecatching stop from Ortega. Even when Foden added a second following another driving run and shot from Savinho, Wissa smashed one in from close range to make for a nervy finale.
So often the closing minutes have been when City have crumbled in recent months. Savinho incurred the wrath of his manager again when he shot instead of squaring for Haaland on a break, but the rise in confidence in the 20-year-old has been so huge that he then took the option of timewasting in the corner.
Then it happened again. Moments after substitute James McAtee had shot over from the edge of the box, Manu Akanji gave Christian Norgaard too much room in the box, Josko Gvardiol didn’t stop the cross, and Ortega could only claw it into his own goal.
Delight would have turned to defeat if Ake hadn’t produced another goalline clearance to head away a rasping Mbuemo effort, and the despair on the faces of the players at full-time was clear. Haaland tried to gee his teammates up with some shoves to let them take pride in the performance, Guardiola gave some teaching clinics for Gvardiol and Savinho, and City’s season is still stuck.
This was a promising performance after their recent run, but the results still aren’t there.