Pep Guardiola was pleased with City’s performance against Newcastle but there is room for improvement

Manchester City had to settle for a draw against Newcastle at St. James Park yesterday. The game finished 1-all after a tightly contested battle against Eddie Howe’s side. In the scheme of the season a point at St. James Park isn’t a bad result. But the champions weren’t at their free-flowing best for large portions of yesterday’s game. Speaking post game Pep Guardiola was happy with the performance of his team. But there is plenty of room for improvement based on yesterday’s performance from Manchester City.

Speaking after yesterday’s game Pep Guardiola believed his team had played well bar two periods of the game. In an interview with TNT Sports, which was relayed by the BBC, he said: “Newcastle had moments in the first ten minutes and after their goal, but in general we played really good. We made bad decisions at the last minute to make it 2-0. It is always difficult here with their physicality and they defend so deep. We had chances, but [Nick] Pope was brilliant, so we take the point. When we scored we played better. We make a mistake and after they played better. But then we take the game again and had chances to win it.”

Pep Guardiola is right; for large portions of yesterday’s match, Manchester City did neutralize Newcastle’s threat on the counter. The problem was City couldn’t get their own game going. Newcastle defended well and kept City in front of their defence for the majority of the game. That reduced Erling Haaland to a spectator for large portions of yesterday’s game. Having said that, if Ilkay Gundogan was at his best, City may have ended the game by halftime. The introduction of Phil Foden, Savinho and Jeremy Doku in the second half did add a more potent threat to City’s attacking play. Perhaps if the trio came on earlier they may have made more of an impact on the game.

All told a draw at St. James Park isn’t a bad result for Manchester City. The only concern was that City couldn’t get their free-flowing football going. But it is only early in the season and Pep Guardiola and his team have plenty of time to rediscover their groove in possession. Manchester City left St. James Park still unbeaten in the Premier League after six games. So that is a positive to take out of frustrating game for the world champions.