Three things we learned – Newcastle United 2-1 Manchester City

Harvey Barnes scored twice for Newcastle United as Manchester Metropolis slumped to a second consecutive away defeat within the Premier League.

The 27-year-old winger fizzed his first in from the sting of the field, earlier than bundling house a second following a set piece. Ruben Dias equalised for Metropolis in between, as a drilled low volley squirmed into the again of the online.

Each groups missed loads of huge possibilities. The 2 centre forwards Nick Woltemade and Erling Haaland have been denied a number of occasions, while Phil Foden and Savinho have been amongst others to overlook good possibilities for Pep Guardiola’s facet.

There have been additionally a number of refereeing selections in Newcastle’s favour. The Blues have been denied two first half penalties that many pundits and followers declare to be the improper choice, and from sure angles Barnes’s winner seemed to be offside, however was dominated to be onside by the VAR group.

Listed here are three issues we realized from the defeat within the North East:

An off-day for Haaland can have an effect on the entire assault

It simply wasn’t Haaland’s day.

Metropolis’s quantity 9 has scored a sensational 32 objectives already this season for membership and nation, however in opposition to the Magpies his contact was sloppy and he missed a number of possibilities you’d have anticipated him to transform.

Foden behind him was poor too. He struggled to get entangled within the recreation, missed Metropolis’s greatest alternative and stored giving the ball away when it got here to him.

It exhibits to me that when these two (notably Haaland) have off days, which they’re entitled to often given all they’ve contributed to Metropolis, the assault struggles to perform with out them.

Jeremy Doku performed okay however was the primary man subbed and isn’t a pure goalscorer, Oscar Bobb is discovering his toes once more after damage and has struggled to this point, Rayan Cherki wants time to settle, Omar Marmoush appears to be out of favour and the jury may be very a lot out on Savinho and whether or not he’s ok.

With out Haaland main the road nicely and Foden chipping in behind him, the Metropolis group have tended to wrestle to this point this marketing campaign which was evidenced in opposition to Newcastle on Saturday.

Defenders have been good individually however should be much less open as a unit

I can’t say that any of Dias, Matheus Nunes, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly or Gianluigi Donnarumma had poor video games.

The massive Italian goalkeeper made a number of glorious saves to disclaim Nick Woltemade for Newcastle, and although he made an nearly catastrophic mistake inside the primary minute, he can’t be held accountable for both of the objectives Metropolis conceded.

Nunes is bettering at proper again, Dias scored and is starting to appear to be probably the greatest centre halves within the league once more, Gvardiol was a lot better than in opposition to Liverpool and O’Reilly appears to be like at house at left again, and continues to maintain Rayan Ait-Nouri out of the group.

Nico Gonzalez I really feel may have performed the ball ahead faster at occasions however I’ve no complaints regarding his defensive play; he held his personal nicely in opposition to probably the greatest midfield trios within the Premier League.

The problem was that Metropolis regarded too open for Newcastle transitions, and to be honest, the house facet performed very nicely and exploited the Metropolis assault notably within the second half.

It’s encouraging to see that the Blues have been a lot better than they have been in opposition to Tottenham and Brighton, as an example, however there are areas that they must tighten up as a way to problem Arsenal for the Premier League this season.

No enormous issues for the long run

As talked about above, I don’t take a look at this group and assume there are enormous points like this time a yr in the past.

The board have performed an excellent job in spending numerous cash in areas the place Metropolis want gamers after a number of years of negligence. Credit score to Guardiola too – he discovered non permanent options in O’Reilly at left again and Nunes and Abdukodir Khusanov at proper again which have turned out to be recreation changers and save Metropolis a signing.

And there are a lot of gamers who’ve already proven a greater degree on the entire than final season. Doku is the primary instance, with Foden, Nico, Dias, Nunes and even Haaland having gone up a gear from final marketing campaign too.

Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Ait-Nouri will grow to be good squad gamers on the very least as soon as they’ve tailored totally, and after the likes of Bernardo Silva, Nathan Ake and John Stones have left, we are able to count on them to get replaced with new gamers.

The Metropolis undertaking will take time to get again to its greatest, and while outcomes like this aren’t nice, no-one can actually say they’re fearful concerning the group like they have been final season.