Erling Haaland of Manchester City walks off at full time
Erling Haaland of Manchester City walks off at full time
Erling Haaland said he was to blame after Manchester City's last defeat, prior to Christmas.
Here, the City striker was entirely culpable, missing from the penalty spot then watching his header from the rebound ruled out for offside. While City's current crisis cannot be put squarely on the shoulders of one man, no player embodies the malaise more than Haaland, who looks a shadow of the imperious forward who plundered 90 goals in his first two seasons.
Haaland has one goal in his last seven Premier League games and, when he is not scoring, City have few other options to find the net, a damning indictment of such a talented and expensively-assembled squad.
City were without eight key men, including No.1 keeper Ederson, defensive trio Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and John Stones, as well as long-term absentee Rodri. But those enforced absences cannot be used as mitigation for another blunt display from the fallen champions, who were once again devoid of their usual swagger and cutting edge.
Pep Guardiola gives surprising reaction to Manchester City failure vs Everton
[
Man City's winless run extended as Erling Haaland pays the penalty against Everton](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/man-city-everton-premier-league-34377127)
It is now one win in 13 games in all competitions for crisis-hit City, an astonishing run from a side who, at the start of the season, were favourites to make it a record-extending five titles in a row. Now they are languishing in sixth place, 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand, with Champions League qualification their goal now, with the title gone.
Even when they take the lead, as they did here, City simply do not have the confidence to build on it and get themselves into a winning position, as has been customary in the Guardiola era. They went ahead after 15 minutes, Jeremy Doku's ball in behind the Everton defence finding Bernardo Silva, whose angled shot took a deflection off Jarrad Branthwaite, sending the ball spinning into the far corner.
City had chances to double their lead but were guilty of over-elaboration, never more so than in the 33rd minute when Silva was presented with a free shot on goal by Phil Foden. But instead of hitting the ball with his right foot and making Jordan Pickford work to keep it out, Silva elected to hit with the outside of his left boot, sending it curling wide of the target.
Erling Haaland had a nightmare from the penalty spot
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Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
That moment of indulgence came back to bite City three minutes later when Everton levelled, Iliman Ndiaye taking full advantage of shambolic defending from Manuel Akanji and Rico Lewis. City's defence should have dealt with a tame cross from Abdoulaye Doucoure, but Akanji's slapstick swipe at the ball deflected it past Lewis and into the path of Ndiaye, who swept a majestic half-volley finish beyond Stefan Ortega.
Guardiola's men should have restored their lead in the 51st minute, when Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko brought down Savinho with a rash challenge to concede a penalty. Haaland stepped up to take the spot-kick, but his effort was saved by Pickford, the City striker suffering double misery when his header from the rebound was ruled out for offside.
Thereafter, Everton could and should have scored a second, stretching City on the counter-attack on several occasions, only to pick the wrong option or delay too long with the final ball. That was the case in the penultimate minute of added time, when Doucoure took too long to pass to Jack Harrison, who should have shot first-time, his own delay allowing City to regroup, and thwart the danger, thus avoiding a fourth defeat in a row.
At the moment, with their confidence on the floor, City will take that.
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