Manchester City have had to ride a bit of a storm of late due to their poor form and in blustery conditions they travelled away to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon. Premier League title-challenge rivals Liverpool had already seen their game postponed due to Storm Darragh, but this match at Selhurst Park was given the all-clear to go ahead.
Pep Guardiola may have been wishing it was called off, however, with his team falling behind after just four minutes thanks to Daniel Munoz. Erling Haaland pulled his team level before half-time as each team traded blows in search of taking control.
Palace went ahead once more, this time in the second half, with defender Maxence Lacroix grabbing his first goal for the club with a header from a corner. The lead did not last long, though, with Rico Lewis making it 2-2 in the 68th minute.
The defender then went from hero to villain in the latter stages of the game as he picked up a second yellow, making for an uncomfortable finish. City clung on to pick up an away point, but Guardiola will no doubt be frustrated with another disappointing result.
Stefan Ortega Struggles vs Palace
2/8 accurate long balls completed
Stefan Ortega's stats vs Crystal Palace
In a bid to try and recover his team's form, Guardiola hasn't been shy of mixing things up. Indeed, having lost three Premier League games on the bounce, he dropped number one goalkeeper Ederson for Stefan Ortega. The decision did not really pay off as City lost 2-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.
Sticking to his guns, he once more showed faith in the £90k-p/w German the following weekend. This time, the Spanish manager was rewarded with a clean sheet in a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest. As such, for the third league outing in a row, Ortega got the nod. In hindsight, this may not have been the wisest call.
In Ederson, Man City have one of the best goalkeepers in the world and one of the finest the English top-flight has ever seen. With an astonishing three Golden Gloves, and 114 clean sheets in 262 outings – not to mention six league titles – the Brazilian has been a wonderful servant for the club.
As everyone knows, he is more than just a shot-stopper. Indeed, he helps City control games with his top-notch ability on the ball. With four assists, only Paul Robinson has more as a goalkeeper in the division's history (five). And against Palace, Ederson's familiar presence was keenly missed.
For example, Ortega completed just two out of eight attempted long balls. Guardiola noted their struggles in such moments, saying: "Long balls, second balls, they're stronger than us. With his goalkeeper losing the ball so regularly in moments such as this, City failed to dominate mustering only 12 shots at goal, the same number as their opponents.
Of all the City players to feature on the day, the 32-year-old picked up the lowest SofaScore ratings, mustering a disappointing 6.3 mark. He also failed to have any punches or any high claims – that lack of proactive goalkeeping is particularly pertinent as he was rooted to the spot when Palace bagged their second from a corner.
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Ortega's issues led to 'on-field disagreement with Dias'
Ederson
Journalist Sam Smith of the Express highlighted the goalkeeper's struggles in his player ratings. He handed Ortega a 4/10 score and suggested Ederson could soon return to the starting XI for City:
'Allowed Munoz’s early drive to squirm through his grasp. Never truly looked comfortable and Ederson could return to the line-up for the Champions League clash with Juventus.'
In the player ratings for Manchester World, it was also noted that the German 'should have saved Palace’s opener'. On top of that, his poor distribution – as highlighted earlier – 'also caused a small on-field disagreement with Dias'.
Guardiola is known to be a bit of an overthinker, especially when there's a lot at stake – don't forget he once dropped Rodri ahead of a Champions League final – and in swapping out his goalkeepers, he may be falling into a similar place of ill-judgement.
When form is so turbulent, City's defensive backline needs all the familiarity they can get. In Ederson, they have an experienced head needlessly cast away to the bench. If things continue this way, and results don't improve, people may seriously start wondering whether Guardiola has lost his magic touch.
Stats via SofaScore, Premier League, and Statmuse - as of 07/12/24.