LFL: MAN CITY
This was a tremendous game and one that will live in the memory for a very long time. Though we lost, we were by no means disgraced and we managed to get more goals against City than they’d conceded in their previous four league games. The future still looks bright to me.
BEFORE
Once again many commentators are giving us no chance for this afternoon's match and I have to say that my head was telling me the same thing but after Brighton's surprising win against Arsenal yesterday, my heart is now giving me hope. City are currently top of the league with maximum points but if we fight like we did against them in the home fixture last season, we have a chance of a draw. We'll be without Reinildo so there'll be at least one change and I imagine we’ll be playing very defensively and hitting them on the break. I'm back in Sunderland and will be watching the game with my two regular match-going friends. I'm sticking my neck out for a 1-1 draw.
I got the team-news twenty minutes before kick-off and there were five changes from the side that started against Alkmaar with Ballard, Methalie, Muenier, Angulo and Brobbey coming in for Alderete, Reinildo, Hume, Fofana and Isidor. My friends’ match predictions were 1-0 to us and 1-0 to them.
THE GAME
Methalie went on a nifty run down the left in the second minute and that was very promising. We went on to do most of the pressing in the first five minutes and then Le Fee put in a low cross from the left which Angulo couldn’t get his feet sorted out for. We soon won the first corner of the game but City broke quickly down our left and it ended with Methalie being yellow-carded for a foul. The free-kick was in a very dangerous spot just to the left of our box and Fernandez slammed it just inside our left post having seen that Roefs had left too much of a gap there. We didn’t have to wait long for an equalizer, though, as in the twelfth Le Fee broke through the middle and laid on a great pass for Brobbey at their edge of their box and he scored despite a bobble from Donnarumma on the way. We conceded a corner in the nineteenth and my heart sank somewhat but it went out for a goal-kick from an Anderson shot. It had been a very decent opening quarter for us and we’d shown that we weren’t afraid to have a go.
It continued to be a very even game and the next big chance came in the twenty-eighth when Haaland got on the end of a high cross from our left but thankfully he headed over. Next thing they were back in the lead and it started with a poor clearance from Danso that soon came back into our box and was finally put away by Cherki with Roefs looking unsighted. We immediately bounced back with a corner at the other end and it didn’t look like 2-1 would be the final score. Having typed that it looked like we’d promptly got our second when Le Fee found Meunier and his low cross across the box from the right was turned in at close range by Brobbey. It went to a lengthy VAR scrutiny and they finally decided the goal could stand. As half-time approached it seemed that anything could happen but we were leaving Semenyo far too much space on our right and that looked dangerous.
City won a corner in the forty-second and we had difficulty getting it clear before Semenyo hammered it past Roefs, who again saw it a bit late, to make it 3-2. Haaland had a golden chance in the final minute but somehow he shot wide of our left post. I wasn’t surprised when five minutes of added-time were announced. In the last minute a Brobbey effort took an upward deflection and had Donnarumma struggling to scoop it over for a corner to us. The corner resulted in a powerful header on target from Danso, I think, that Donnarumma held confidently. The whistle immediately went to draw the curtain on a great first-half. I felt that there would be at least one more goal and although City had looked dangerous whenever they came forward, we looked more than capable of getting another, especially if we had Isidor and Brobbey on together.
As usual there were no changes as we kicked off again. We started brightly with a good move down the left but Donnarumma grabbed it in the end. Next thing Sadiki burst through and unleashed a shot but it was miles wide. Ndiaye was allowed oceans of space on our left but Roefs managed to get to the ball before him and the danger was over. By the way, I don’t think Pep has really left City as new coach Enzo Maresca looks the double of him. In the fifty-seventh it was 4-2 to City when a mix up between two of our defenders allowed the ball to bounce to Semenyo and he had time to smash it home, giving Roefs no chance. Two minutes later we pulled another goal back and it was a hat-trick for Brobbey. A pass from Xhaka found Angulo charging into their box and his low cross from the left was met by Big Bad Bri who again tapped it in from a yard or so out. I doubted that would be the end of the goals either. That assist was the last touch for Angulo as we replaced him with Fofana.
As we entered the final quarter I was still really enjoying the game and this was increased when I saw Isidor coming on in the sixty-eighth, replacing Sadiki. I thought we’d equalized when Dias mishit a back pass but he recovered to clear it off the line with Donarumma stranded. We were having a real go at them and creating good chances. We won a corner in the seventy-fourth but it went for a throw to us and then City made their first change, bringing on Doku for Ndiaye. We brought on Hume for Meunier with eleven minutes on the clock. Fofana had a shot on target as we continued to have a go and then it seemed that Haaland had broken our hoodoo by scoring at the far post. There was a VAR ruling and the goal was given and, to be fair, that looked right. At least we were the last Premier side he managed to score against.
There was still plenty of time for us to grab another goal but City looked very capable of getting one too. O’Reilly had just come on as a sub when he seemed certain to score but Roefs leg denied him. Time was rapidly slipping away but we hadn’t given up and in the dying seconds a Ballard effort bounced of their left post. Five minutes of added-time were announced and we battled on, with a good on-target header from Fofana, but we couldn’t manage to get that fourth goal and I ended 5-3.
