The City stumbles at the first change

Pep Guardiola ended the afternoon scratching his head, wondering how the haul on his visit to Nottingham was just one point. The light blues prevailed over Forest in all aspects of the game, generating up to 22 chances for only four from the home team. Manchester City was erratic in the definition, without aim. And he paid dearly. They lost the Premier League lead on a frustrating afternoon.

There was a total offensive against the goal of Keylor Navas from the start of the match. Nottingham Forest tried to defend like a cat on its back, clawing to take advantage of the speed of Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White. To intimidate, but Aymeric Laporte and Rúben Dias, at the center of the visiting defense, were in charge of containing the timid local attack. It was a matter of time before City opened the can. And it happened. On the stroke of half-time, Jack Grealish had a rebound after a Phil Foden corner kick. He found Bernardo Silva on the edge of the area and the Portuguese scored with a left-footed shot from the start. With power. The ball cleared a cloud of red jerseys before surprising Navas, who couldn’t stop the shot from hitting the center of his goal.

City pressed even more in the second half. He enjoyed more chances, better opportunities. His frustration also grew. Erling Haaland had a double chance after the hour of play, getting a loose ball after a shot by Foden. The Norwegian, with everything going for him, smashed the ball into the post first, then shot too high from too close. Five minutes later, at minute 72, Navas cleared a direct free kick from Ilkay Gündogan with his fingertips that ended up repelling the crossbar.

The game went off, but five minutes from the end the City Ground lit up. Johnson started on the right until he reached the side of Ederson’s box. There, Gibbs-White offered a low ball that crossed the Brazilian’s goal until it found the boot of the newly admitted Chris Wood. The New Zealander only had to push the ball to cause the explosion of joy from the local parish. Nottingham Forest drew late, and despite Guardiola’s changes, Manchester City stumbled at the first exchange after taking the lead during the week.