A goal and an assist and a captain’s display that wrenched the contest from Crystal Palace: here was an opportunity to revel in the sublime talent of Kevin De Bruyne.
On a sun-dappled east Manchester afternoon, De Bruyne illustrated, again, his peerlessness. The truism that the best have a crucial extra moment to work with runs through his decade in a Manchester City shirt and was displayed in the strike crafted for Mateo Kovacic.
Eighty seconds into the second half, the 33-year-old received a Nico O’Reilly pass from the left, with three Crystal Palace men converging on him. All seemed to slow, as he swivelled and left them in a different postcode and laid off to Kovacic, who put City 3-2 ahead.
Pep Guardiola said: “The performance of Kevin is what he has done for many, many years in many games. Unfortunately, he could not with injuries and surgery for 18 months, but he played fantastic. He helped us to break the momentum that wasn’t good. The goal and assist – he helped us a lot to win the game.”
The lead came after falling two behind. Soon, the champions were two ahead. This was route one the Guardiola way. Ederson, in familiar mode, dropped a punt on to James McAtee’s toes, he rounded the charging-out Dean Henderson and finished. The relentless De Bruyne should have had a second assist. Popping up on the right, he skimmed across a ball Omar Marmoush should have buried, but Henderson saved.
From 2-0 down to 5-2 takes City to fourth place, two points ahead of Newcastle, who have played two fewer games. For De Bruyne, who departs this summer, the focus is on Europe. “I want to go away with a Champions League for this team because they deserve it,” he said.
Pre-kick-off, Guardiola’s selection seemed a curate’s egg. The positive was McAtee being handed a full Premier League debut, but with no Savinho, Jack Grealish, Jérémy Doku (all substitutes) and Phil Foden (injured). The negative seemed a lack of width – and pace, Marmoush apart.
The shape proved a narrow 4-2‑2-2 and you saw Guardiola’s thinking when Kovacic bounced the ball into a right channel for McAtee, but a left-foot effort plopped into Henderson’s hands.
Weak was an apt characterisation, too, of City for Palace’s first-half goals, each being due to powderpuff defending. First, Daniel Muñoz found an acre of turf along the right – he tapped to Ismaïla Sarr, the cross removed Ederson, and Eberechi Eze turned home. Guardiola wanted offside but the semi-automated system – in play for a first time this weekend – ruled all fine.
Palace’s second derived from a corner, again on the right. Adam Wharton swung this in with his left to curve at goal, and a host of defenders missed it – primarily Rúben Dias, who did nothing to prevent Chris Richards heading in.
City were being schooled as if kids. Before scoring, Richards had tugged at Marmoush as the Egyptian pulled the trigger. Guardiola screamed for a penalty, Jarred Gillett ruled not, and VAR Peter Bankes decided against sending the referee to the monitor.
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Now came De Bruyne’s decision to wrest proceedings his way. After a curled effort pinged the right post, a free-kick offered him a chance from a similar, central zone. The Belgian again aimed to Henderson’s right, and this time scored superbly. He said: “It was important to score as quickly as possible and change the feeling of the game a bit.”
Urging his men on, De Bruyne was pivotal in the equaliser. Before Palace’s goal, he nodded the ball to Ilkay Gündogan who miskicked and Marmoush rammed past Henderson. Before this Eze again beat Ederson but this time the semi-automated offside ruled that Eze was offside by his left boot.
A duff note for City was Ederson going off injured. But this was De Bruyne’s day and the surprise when O’Reilly struck the fifth – his first league goal – was that the man with the strawberry-blond hair was not involved.
Oliver Glasner said he was right to remove Jean-Philippe Mateta at the break but had erred in how he replaced him. “The mistake was to change the system, not to make the sub,” said Palace’s manager.
Source: theguardian.com
