One step forward and at least one step back for Manchester City again
One step forward and at least one step back for Manchester City again
Even when Manchester City don't lose, they lose.
For all the relief at ending their eight-game winless run against Nottingham Forest in midweek, Pep Guardiola was right to be concerned. The City boss had explained that one victory would not be enough to stabilise the issues in the team that an injury crisis had brought, and two more central defenders going off was just what he didn't need.
Goals from Rico Lewis and Erling Haaland ensured the Blues left Selhurst Park with a point, but the result doesn't do much to climb the table and the performance left more evidence of City's vulnerability. Lewis scoring and then being sent off for two yellow cards to mean he will miss next week's Manchester derby sums up how even when the Premier League champions take one step forward at the moment they take at least one back again in a campaign that cannot get any momentum.
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Everyone has come to know what to expect from City, and it is not this: a defence that can be got at, players spraying balls out of play rather than finding a teammate, and a midfield that is easily bypassed. Any hopes that the Forest win would see City turn a corner were displaced inside the opening four minutes when Kyle Walker played Daniel Munoz inside and he smashed the ball past Stefan Ortega.
It was yet another moment for the defence to forget and for Walker himself to forget this season - would scrapping the podcast help at this point or at least changing the title? - yet it came in entirely unsurprising circumstances. If you only have four centre-backs and three of them are injured - two against Forest - you are going to have to use players who aren't in form and your defence is going to look weak regardless.
With Kevin De Bruyne back in the team, at least the attack is revitalised. The Belgian slipped a terrific ball in for Erling Haaland that unfortunately hit Palace keeeper Dean Henderson flush in the head, then Bernardo Silva flashed a shot wide after Ilkay Gundogan had hit the post.
The midfield may not have been protecting the defence, but it did at least help to get City back into the game. A cross swung in by Matheus Nunes was brilliantly headed in by Haaland to see City level at the break.
The frustration for City at the moment is that everything that they have to work so hard for they gift to their opponents. At a wet and windy Selhurst Park, the Blues painstakingly and patiently worked their way back into the game to the point where they were dominating the contest and Oliver Glasner was calling for more energy from the home team; within minutes, Palace had retaken the lead.
Once again, it was too easy with a corner arrowed into the six-yard box and Maxence Lacroix outjumping Walker to head in. Ruben Dias had made a handful of terrific blocks up to this point to keep the ball from City's goal but you can only do that so many times before it finds another way in.
This is the vicious cycle City are stuck in with their injuries. Unless they have more defenders available, sooner or later the opponents are going to find a way to score and beat them.
That is not to say that they will lose every game, and they didn't here thanks to a defender. Lewis got on the end of a decent passing move to smash home a second equaliser and briefly silence Selhurst with just under 20 minutes to go.
However, with Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish not deemed fit enough to start and staying on the bench until the 79th and 85th minutes respectively, City had to make do with what they had and what they have is less than they'd like. The two goals were welcome but only seven teams have conceded more than the 21 they have shipped from 15 games this season; Dias alone cannot form a title-winning defence.
That defence may well be even lighter for the derby after Lewis was sent off to hamper City's chances of chasing a win. It cannot be appealed given it was two yellows, and the late tackle that made Rob Jones's mind up would not win an appeal anyway.
Until City stop taking damage every time they play, their season is in danger of destructing. Before a derby that City will be expected to win in front of their own fans, they really can't afford to lose in Turin.
Storm Darragh will pass but the clouds around City hover menacingly.