At St. James’ Park, Manchester City was disappointed because they were unable to catch up to Arsenal.
Before kickoff at St. James’ Park, Newcastle United supporters would have been thinking about the unwelcome irony of witnessing one of the hero’s goal-scoring records stolen in his own backyard as they passed the statue of Alan Shearer.
Shearer would not have become the fastest to 100 goals in Premier League history if Erling Haaland had scored in the northeast. With 14 games remaining, the Norwegian will eventually shatter this record, but the fact that he didn’t do it already is largely to blame for Manchester City’s inability to put further pressure on Arsenal before the North London derby.
One day, there will undoubtedly be a statue of Haaland outside the Etihad, but he will wish to forget this game when he reflects on his time at City. He had three chances to reach his Premier League century. He didn’t succeed three times. Two of them were the kinds of chances he has been consuming for leisure this season.
Rather, this served as an unwelcome and unsettling reminder of what happens when Haaland fails to score. City is defeated. He was kept out by a Premier League squad for the fourth time this season, and his team lost for the third time.
It’s obvious that Haaland is the team’s top scorer. Given that he recently led Norway to their first World Cup in 28 years, the pressure shouldn’t be too much for him, but this was an expensive off day.
After Harvey Barnes had opened the score, Ruben Dias assumed the role of goal scorer and smashed a shot from a corner into the back of the net to tie the score for the Blues. Haaland remains the only player to score more than once, despite becoming City’s ninth different Premier League goal scorer this season.
We use your sign-up to better understand you and deliver content in ways you’ve agreed to. Based on what we know about you, this might include advertisements from us and other parties. More details
A goal from a center back could have been sufficient if Pep Guardiola’s team had been strong defensively, but they never provided any kind of control at St. James’ Park. This was a crapshoot, and Guardiola detests these kinds of games because they are equally simple to lose as they are to win.
In a crazy seven-minute period that typified the game, Dias’ goal came either side of two for Barnes. The first occurred after Nico O’Reilly’s careless clearing failed to neutralize the threat, but the 20-yard finish was flawless.
The second came from a set piece that City was unable to clear. Gianluigi Donnarumma got into a heated altercation with Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall after being cautioned for his protest over not being given a foul from the corner.
At full time, the explosive pair carried on their verbal sparring. Tindall waved his hand dismissively, but Donnarumma, who was about to overheat, gave him a cold gaze. Bruno Guimaraes and Pep Guardiola got into a fight twenty yards away.
This was a lost chance, and City’s frustration was bubbling up. The title chase in November would have been more exciting if they had narrowed the difference with Arsenal to one point. Rather, the Gunners have the opportunity to reclaim the story.
It was the kind of conclusion that this game had consistently promised. At halftime, everyone was wondering how it managed to stay goalless. After Newcastle jumped on a bad pass from Donnarumma, Barnes had a chance to score within 30 seconds, but he gave the Italian a straightforward opportunity to make amends.
That created the ideal atmosphere for a game as exciting and wild as a Saturday night at Newcastle’s bustling Bigg Market. Donnarumma stated this week that he would have felt completely at home here because he was enjoying the intensity of life in the Premier League.
Nick Woltemade would have been ecstatic as the ball left his head from Tino Livramento’s cross after scoring from his first six Premier League shots on goal, but the enormous Italian denied him. Soon after, Donnarumma repeated the dosage, but Haaland was unable to exploit the situation on the other end.
In the early going, he allowed Nick Pope to escape with a rush of blood to the head, racing 15 yards out of his area before making a first-time attempt at the goalie from eight yards. After a slick City play, Phil Foden committed yet another blatant error, and Fabian Schar should have awarded him a penalty.
The drama was only getting started, but the injustice would continue.
