Pep Guardiola and Mateo Kovacic
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City endured another afternoon to forget at Nottingham Forest
Pep Guardiola had better start hoping that this is the season when fifth place is good enough to clinch Champions League qualification.
Because, on current form, the champions have got a proper fight on their hands to finish any higher.
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s late strike strengthened Nottingham Forest’s grip on third and sentenced Manchester City to their 10th Premier League defeat of a wretched campaign. And a pack of clubs that includes Chelsea, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Brighton, Fulham and Aston Villa will now really fancy their chances of chasing City down from here.
Guardiola’s first temptation once he had made it back into the dressing room must surely have been to check the latest UEFA club coefficients.
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He would have been relieved to see England well clear at the top of the standings - because this is turning into a year when he is going to need all the help he can get.
Guardiola’s Etihad bosses belatedly started the rebuild of City’s team during the January transfer window, splashing out more than £170million on four new signings. It’s an issue that should have been addressed last summer.
But Guardiola was luxuriating in past glories - and with City unsure whether the Catalan would be leaving at the end of his ninth season, there seemed little sense in buying players that the next manager might not want.
Despite that New Year blitz, the Blues continue to look like a team that's there for the taking.
Their 3,000 travelling fans have had it good for so long that they couldn’t have begrudged the sight of the home supporters rocking the City Ground to its foundations at the final whistle. The club of Brian Clough, Peter Taylor and the most unlikely European Cup triumphs in the history of the competition are once again on the cusp of something really special.
Callum Hudson-Odoi scored the winner for Forest against Man City
Callum Hudson-Odoi scored Nottingham Forest's winner to put more ground between them and Manchester City
Forest’s fans had woken to the news that their old warhorse Stuart Pearce had suffered a heart attack on a flight from Las Vegas during the night and had been taken to hospital after the plane had made an emergency landing in Canada.
They roared ‘Psycho, Psycho, Psycho’ in his honour in the third minute - and he would have loved the spirit Nuno Espirito Santo’s men showed.
Forest deserved everything they got, if only for the way they eventually attacked the day after realising that the team that has been crowned champions in each of the last four seasons are nothing like the force they once were.
The visitors spent most of the second half with their backs pressed firmly against the Trent End. Erling Haaland could have spent his 90 minutes having a walk down the river - and he wouldn’t have been missed. The same could be said for Phil Foden and Savinho, both of whom did well to last for 70 minutes before Guardiola made some changes.
Jeremy Doku impressed for City, as did young defender Abdukodir Khusanov. Keeper Ederson produced one brilliant save to touch a drive from Hudson-Odoi onto the post. But when the winger once again got a sight of goal seven minutes at time, the Brazilian keeper added to his litany of errors this season.
Hudson-Odoi’s drive from an impossibly tight angle carried plenty of venom and also took a touch off the foot of the covering Josko Gvardiol. But Ederson should still not have allowed the ball to fly in at his near post.
By contrast, it was tough to choose Forest’s best performer. Murillo was his usual rock-steady self in central defence and Nicolas Dominguez constantly hounded City with his tireless pressing.
But Morgan Gibbs-White probably shaded it after crowning a classy performance with the exquisite pass that sent Hudson-Odoi free to become the match winner.
Gibbs-White has been a driving force behind Forest's bid for Europe this season and deserves to be named in Thomas Tuchel's England squad.
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