Pep Guardiola led Manchester City, Man City to the club’s greatest moment by claiming the Champions League in 2023 to seal the Treble, but he, his players and the supporters will be content just to win another game at the moment.
The ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss suggested before the match that a top-four finish was “at risk” in their current form, and Thursday’s performance suggests they face a tough battle to achieve that feat.
Man City have competed in Europe’s elite club competition for 14 consecutive campaigns and at the start of this term most would have taken it for granted for them to extend that run, but the season has not panned out in such a way and their remarkable decline continues.
Their previous slick play has turned slow and ponderous, which made it easier for Everton to sit back and play against, and their confidence ebbed away after conceding another soft goal with the defence watching on.
It started well as Silva’s darting run caught Everton napping and his deflected effort gave Man City the lead, but they were unable to build on that early goal despite numerous chances.
After scoring the first, Silva’s failure to find the net from around 15 yards out proved to be costly as Everton recovered.
Savinho’s thunderous volley was kept out by Pickford’s sprawling stop at the start of the second half, while and Mateo Kovacic flashed a strike narrowly wide before Haaland’s gilt-edged chance.
The prolific Norwegian, who has 13 league goals this season, was outpsyched by Pickford for the penalty and though Man City recycled the ball and Haaland headed in, the flag went up for offside.
Guardiola sent on Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in an attempt to change his fortunes, but the side were met with a smattering of jeers at the full-time whistle, having now gained only five points since the start of November.
