Pep Guardiola baffled as profligate Man City waste Emirates effort

Manchester City wasted a glut of chances to build on the midweek win over Arsenal, with Erling Haaland the biggest culprit as he spurned two sitters

MISSED CHANCES: Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan rue a missed chance during the Premier League match at the City Ground, Nottingham. Pic: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire 

If Manchester City are to complete their goal of winning a third consecutive Premier League title in May they cannot afford any more afternoons like the one at Nottingham Forest, a point readily conceded - just like the two his team did - by defender Kyle Walker.

Pep Guardiola’s side had the perfect chance to regain the initiative in their battle with Arsenal after Bernardo Silva’s fine goal put them ahead before the break at the City Ground.

They should have built on that and put the game to bed - returning to the summit as a result - but wasted a glut of chances, with Erling Haaland the biggest culprit as he spurned two sitters that, earlier in the campaign, would have represented “gimmes” for the 32-goal Norwegian.

Phil Foden, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne were also guilty and they paid the price as Chris Wood’s goal - with Forest’s only shot on target - snatched a point for the hosts.

It sees the Gunners hold a two-point advantage at the top of the table with a game in hand and Walker, one of the few City players not to waste a chance, says the draw undoes the good work of their 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium last Wednesday. And he is clear in his message that there cannot be any repeats of missed chances like this.

“Definitely dropped two points,” he said. “It feels like all the hard work on Wednesday has probably gone to waste. Hopefully this point can put us in good stead at the end of the season.

“We’re not down and we’re not out - we’ll keep going and keep fighting until the very end and put this down as a blip.

“We know it’s not acceptable as a team and hopefully now that’s our blips done, and we can go on now.

“It’s not ideal. Obviously, we would like to be sat at the top and people trying to catch us, but Arsenal have done well this season - they play some good football and deservedly sit at the top but they’re in touching distance.

“We just need to make sure that these performances don’t happen again, we finish our chances and defend well as a team, and we stick together.

“We need to move on. It’s done now, the whistle’s blown and we move on to a massive game on Wednesday in the Champions League and then go to a tough place in Bournemouth.” 

Forest did what was necessary, changing shape and tactics to try and contain City and stay in the game for as long as they could. Silva’s vicious strike just before half-time having given City the lead and that ought to have been the platform for a routine victory.

Had any one of the plethora of chances early in the second half gone in, the scoreline could easily have matched the 6-0 thumping City notched in August’s fixture.

No miss was worse than Haaland’s double blunder midway through the second half. After Keylor Nevas spilled Foden’s shot, the Norwegian inexplicably hit the crossbar from the rebound with the goal gaping. He did even worse when he got a second bite as the ball fell to him again but he blazed over from inside the six-yard box.

They were misses that came back to haunt Guardiola in the 84th minute when Wood scored his first goal for the club, tapping in Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross at the far post. Not surprisingly, the events left the City manager short on patience in his post-match analysis.

“The players know it. You think Phil, Ayme and Erling didn’t want to score?” He said. “They wanted to score. But we didn’t do it.

“You ask me for an explanation for that and I don’t have it. You ask why? I don’t have it. The managers have to answer all the questions but we don’t know the truth! Sometimes it happens. But I liked the way we played, the way we behaved.

“We were stable in many things. Set pieces we defended well, we attacked well. It’s about putting the ball in the net.

“In general we’ve been quite similar all season, the way we played, the chances we create. We are always there, we are on top. We play to create more chances and concede few and being stable as a team.

“Generally we are doing that, most of the time. We didn’t get what we deserved but football is not about what you deserve. You have to score the goals."

NOTTINGHAM FOREST (4-3-2-1): Navas 7; Aurier 7 (Wood 79 7), Worrall 6, Felipe 8, Lodi 6 (Toffolo 79 6); Danilo 5 (Ayew 58 7), Colback 6 (Williams 58), Shelvey 6 (Mangala 72 7); Freuler 6, Gibbs-White 7; Johnson 7. 

Subs not used: Hennessey, Surridge, Dennis, Scarpa. 

MANCHESTER CITY (3-2-4-1): Ederson 6; Walker 6, Dias 6, Laporte 6; Rodri 7, Silva 8; Foden 7 (Ake 89), De Bruyne 7, Gundogan 7, Grealish 7; Haaland 5. 

Subs not used: Moreno, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Akanji, Mahrez, Palmer, Lewis. 

Referee: Graham Scott 7.