Crystal Palace 2-2 Manchester City Review

Premier League GW15

After an uplifting win against Nottingham Forest, the injuries brought the mood back down before a ball was kicked. Although some of the same problems persisted, some of the same players that needed to be moved on started, and there were reasons to be positive about the team heading forward. With Kevin De Bruyne in the team, the resolve they showed under pressure, and pushing for a winner in the final ten minutes.

Notable Stats:

• Most Premier League goals scored for Man City under Pep Guardiola:
  ◎ 85 - Raheem Sterling (194 games)
  ◎ 82 - Sergio Aguero (125 games)
  ◉ 76 - Erling Haaland (81 games)

• Bernardo Silva has created the ninth most big chances (8) in the Premier League this season and the second most chances from open play (31).

• Rico Lewis has won possession in the final third 12 times this season, leading the Manchester City squad, and is the tenth most in the Premier League.

• Rico Lewis became just the second Man City player to score and be sent off in a Premier League game under Pep Guardiola after Raheem Sterling vs. Bournemouth in 2017.

• Ruben Dias blocked four shots against Crystal Palace, only three other players have blocked more in a single Premier League match this season. Wout Faes (6), Nathan Collins (6), and Dara O’Shea (5).

Game Stats:

Crystal Palace 2-2 Man City

• xG: 1.27 - 1.92

• xThreat: 1.13 - 1.91

• Possession: 32.0% - 68.0%

• Field Tilt: 24.6% - 75.4%

• Penalty Box Shots: 6 - 9

• Deep Entries: 8 - 17

• PPDA: 28.6 - 9.2

• High Turnovers: 5 - 2

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Here is how the team lined up against Crystal Palace, making a few changes from the Nottingham Forest match. Rico Lewis moved into midfield, often finding pockets of space in and around the box.

Without John Stones for a long period, with Ake and Akanji picking up injuries against Nottingham Forest, this backline choice was expected as much as it was tough to see. Knowing the weaknesses in both full-backs. I would have liked to have seen Gvardiol - Dias - JSP - Lewis instead.

Guardiola said earlier this week that Jeremy Doku, like Ake, cannot yet handle three matches a week. His absence from the eleven was expected. Comments about Grealish before and after the match make sense as to why he couldn’t be involved either.

This would be one way of just reshuffling the team without changing the starting 11 that I think would have suited them better. Gotten Nunes into midfield to help support Gundogan in winning duels. Bernardo can do a fine job out on the right wing and it would probably help Savinho find some form by making his job simple out on the left, playing in crosses.

D. Muñoz 4' 1-0

Going back through the first goal Palace scored, the talk will be around Walker playing him onside. Less so whether Rico is the right player to cover that space and Ortega making a better save. We should be rolling it back much further to the same issues Manchester City has had throughout this season. Palace clears the ball into Mateta, holding it up off Dias but Gundogan comes over to collect the ball. That's exactly what you want to see, the ideal situation, now pass the ball across the back line and move on. But under pressure, his clearance goes off a Palace player and unfortunately lands at the feet of Hughes.

Hughes tries to play it into Sarr but Gvardiol does a good job of jumping up to force him back. The issue here is no City midfielder was able to support him and recover the ball. Gundogan comes over to try to win it back, unfortunately, the pass from Sarr he intercepts lands back into the path of Hughes. Palace now can try again to attack the City back line. Hughes now steps onto the loose ball and plays a first-time pass in behind for Munoz to run onto and eventually score. Gundogan smelt the danger but isn't as capable anymore of stopping it. Bernardo Silva doesn't smell the danger. Instead of dealing with these situations cleanly, Manchester City made the mess bigger and the open up the space for opposition teams to attack. Even when they never planned to or built up to one.

E. Haaland 30’ 1-1

Given his form, being the second leading scorer in the team for G+A, it wasn’t a surprise to see Nunes involved in another. Leading up to the goal City did a good job of shifting the ball quickly across from Walker to Gvardiol and out to Nunes. Palace has to shift across quickly and Nunes gets more space. Rico takes Sarr with him with his run into the box, and Bernardo takes Hughes, opening up space for a pass into De Bruyne. Instead of taking that option, Nunes delivers an excellent cross, well finished by Haaland with his header. That is the risk Palace took by leaving him 1v1 with Guehi inside the box. Lacroix and Chalobah are essentially covering nobody.

No changes at half-time, which given the bench City had and the comments about Doku/Grealish midweek was to be expected.

M. Lacroix 56’ 2-1

A good fast break from Palace eventually gets them a corner after the shot is blocked. Whilst the delivery is good, into the right area with pace on the ball, we cannot overcomplicate what was almost an expectation that whoever is marked by Kyle Walker will get a free header. It’s been Gabriel against Arsenal, VVD against Liverpool, and Crystal Palace it was Lacroix who was free to leap.

This takes me to a simple point, that is with injuries the team cannot put four defenders on the pitch that are reliable in duels. That foundation for the team, we saw it against Forest with Akanji, Dias, Ake, and Gvardiol. By playing Kyle Walker and Rico Lewis as your two full-backs that becomes just two players you rely on in the back line to win duels.

R. Lewis 68’ 2-2

This was an excellent team goal and something you’d associate with Manchester at their best in the final third. Finding pockets of space and making smart runs. For all of his recent struggles, it's quite clear the value Rico Lewis provides when in possession. Finding pockets of space and making smart runs. But he's missed big chances when in those positions, this time Rico scored. Hughes jumps so Gundogan can pass. Brilliant from De Bruyne, moving into space and playing the pass first time to Bernardo Silva. He turns and plays in Lewis as Chalobah tries to close him down and leaves the space in the box. Excellent finish from Lewis into the top left corner. Haaland pins Lacroix. Nunes keeps the width which means Munoz cannot come across in time.

Jeremy Doku (79’) comes on for Savinho in what was the move from Guardiola to try to push for a winner late in the match. Not able to start as Guardiola alluded to early this week, and I guess is going to start vs Juventus. Helped to stretch out the Palace backline with Nunes on the opposite side both holding width but wasn’t able to create anything meaningful before the sending-off.

Rico Red Card (84’) gets a second yellow and is sent off for this challenge below. Despite being stepped on and being unfortunate, you don’t need to do this when the team is pushing for a winner and inside the opposition box. You’ve given the referee a decision to make, you take the risk.

Jack Grealish (86’) comes on for De Bruyne which seems to be a result of the red card, stepping back and taking a point. That’s the real disappointment with the red card, I was confident the team was pushing hard for it, getting into good positions and it would have come. The red card locked up the result as a draw.

The last point to end is to bring up how many times the team loses the ball and is in dangerous positions. Of course, Rodri solves a lot of these problems but that’s no excuse for senior players consistently losing the ball in bad positions, particularly given how easy it is for the opposition to turn those into quality chances and goals. Two from Bernardo Silva right outside the box.

Moving Forward

Shifting our focus to the near future, it’s Juventus and the Manchester derby that follows. One is crucial for Champions League qualification, and the other means much more than just turning around the league form. Nunes continues to lead the way behind Erling Haaland as second-top scorer this season in the squad. The Premier League table remains as tight as it’s been in history, although the three teams in the relation zone are starting to drift away, a win takes several teams from below the midtable into the European spots.

Before the January transfer window opens, where most City fans expect some signings to arrive, the team has five matches. Juventus (A), United (H), Villa (A), Everton (H), and Leicester City (A). Five wins are possible from those fixtures, there has been a gradual improvement in the last couple of matches but there is more than enough threat in all those teams to hurt City.

It’s not clear that you can expect Kovacic, Akanji, Ake, Stones, or Foden back anytime soon in order to help in those fixtures. Bobb won’t be back until January/February. Guardiola has to lean on the youth players this month and they may give us what we are missing. At least until the window opens.

Next up for Manchester City is Juventus tomorrow evening, in what will be a crucial game for maintaining the chance to qualify in the top eight. They sat 6th in Serie A this season after fifteen matches, only conceded ten goals, and not lost a league match. But they have drawn six. Preview to come tomorrow morning…