.png)
7 hours ago
2
When Brentford missed their first couple of chances, Thomas Frank applauded his approval and encouragement. But they kept missing them: by the end of the first half his head was in his hands; by the time Yoane Wissa somehow shot into Nathan Aké with the goal at his mercy and 20 minutes remaining he was prostrate, forehead pressed into the turf in supplication. Maybe someone was listening.
Phil Foden had opened the scoring moments earlier, and shortly afterwards he tapped in the rebound after Savinho’s shot was saved to apparently make the game safe. Instead the pendulum swung: Mads Roerslev’s volleyed centre found Wissa all alone on the edge of the six-yard box to pull a goal back, and in stoppage time Christian Nørgaard headed in from Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross. In the end it took Aké’s goalline clearance from Bryan Mbeumo’s shot to ensure City ended this wildly entertaining encounter with a point.
A month ago Brentford were unbeaten here in all competitions and nursing the second-best home record in the division, but since then their aura of invincibility had been lost along with successive league games against Nottingham Forest and Arsenal, as well as an FA Cup tie against the Championship strugglers Plymouth.
City know all about misplaced auras given their travails this season, though Frank used his programme notes to remind readers that they “remain one of the best teams in the world despite not being at their usual level recently, full of quality and intensity”.
Neither of those qualities was immediately apparent as the home side started the game much the stronger, not giving City time to settle in any area of the pitch while locating pockets of space when they had the ball, often down the right where Mbeumo constantly troubled Josko Gvardiol, or in the space in front of Wissa.
Their record with Kyle Walker in their team this season is notably dismal, but there may have been moments here when Pep Guardiola regretted his absence. This may or may not be the end of the road for Walker at City but he did not even embark on the one that led to the Gtech Community Stadium, the 34-year-old left out of the squad as he attempts to engineer a move abroad and with Guardiola concluding his services are not required even before the imminent arrival of the 19-year-old Palmeiras defender Vitor Reis, for whom a deal valued at around £30m has apparently been agreed.
It was Wissa who had the game’s first couple of chances, but for the first he shot wide and the second, as he reached Mbeumo’s lovely pass from the right with the goalkeeper exposed, maybe 10 yards out, he missed his kick completely.
Mbeumo was played into space down the right, teased Gvardiol as he dribbled into the area, but Stefan Ortega turned his mis‑hit shot round the post. In the 20th minute Mikkel Damsgaard’s excellent pass released Wissa, who ignored Manuel Akanji’s ineffective attempt to police him but dragged his shot wide. Then five minutes later Lewis-Potter was played into an empty left half of the penalty area but instead of using that space to fashion a shooting chance he attempted, with little conviction, to slide the ball across to Mbeumo and found the first defender.
after newsletter promotion
It was at around this point, a little over midway through the first half, that City woke up. For the first time they started to work the ball forward quickly and accurately when they had opportunities to break, provoking moments of panic in the home defence. Kevin de Bruyne found Matheus Nunes sprinting into space on the counter, but the Portuguese cut inside and into Nathan Collins, then Savinho led another break before belting a shot over the bar from the edge of the area.
The last 10 minutes of the half were almost entirely played in Brentford’s defensive third, and in that time City created and wasted three good chances. Mateo Kovacic sent a weak shot bobbling wide from the edge of the area before Erling Haaland hit straight at Mark Flekken from just inside it. And finally, just before the break, Kovacic passed to De Bruyne, whose first-time shot from the left of goal, taken under no pressure, cleared the goal, the stand behind it, and very nearly the roof above that.
If the game never lacked chances, it had not yet had a period when both sides were creating them. That came after the interval, and within 10 minutes of the restart Collins headed a free-kick just wide, Savinho clattered a shot against the post, Haaland sent a free header straight at Flekken from eight yards and Vitaly Janelt’s 20-yard bouncer was gathered by Ortega at the second attempt. So it continued, from one end to the other, until the ball finally found the net at both within a minute. Brentford managed it first but Damsgaard, the scorer, had been emphatically offside in the build-up, then City attacked down the right, De Bruyne sent in a delicious centre and Foden side-footed a volley into the far corner.
