Man City Ought to Feel Encouraged, Not Disappointed By Home Everton Draw
Manchester City's 1-1 home draw with Everton on Monday night might have felt disappointing to some upon hearing the final whistle but when one considers the bigger picture, it was 100% a decent result.
Pep Guardiola undoubtedly got his tactics wrong on the night, meaning the team were up against it from the beginning - it was definitely strange to see the Spaniard start with the attack-minded Leroy Sane as a left wing-back, a position he has never played before.
Alarm bells rang and in the 35th minute, the pre-match concerns about the German defensively became a reality as he gifted the ball to the Toffees in the final third for Wayne Rooney to provide the eventual finish.
Vincent Kompany didn't cover himself in much glory, but the chance should not have come about in the first place and Sane should have played safe and out of play. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing, but it did seem the obvious course of action to take.
It was arguably the 21-year-old's worst performance in a City shirt since his arrival from Schalke but he was mismanaged and left exposed as a fish out of water - Danilo, who was terrific once he came on in the second half - should have started the game as he did so at Brighton.
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Then came the pivotal moment in the match - Kyle Walker adjudged to have elbowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin and wrongfully shown a second yellow by referee Bobby Madley, which might have caused other teams in the league to relinquish control.
The reality is that despite a bad first half, the Citizens did not roll over for their opponents and instead worked harder than usual to keep the ball and create chances.
The team were patient yet spirited, and tried to work the ball around the final third, and they hardly gave Everton anything in the second half - all this with 10 men. Impressively, City finished the match having had 65% of the ball and a total of 19 shots, which has to be encouraging for the Citizens faithful.
The introduction of Danilo was particularly beneficial to the balance of the team, and the Brazilian looked pretty effective as a conventional right-back, which is good to know for the coming fixtures that Walker will be suspended for.
Everton are somewhat of a bogey side for City and before the match, half the fans would probably have taken a draw and no doubt those fans would have taken the draw at a goal and a man down.
Etihad-goers should be buoyed by the notion that Ronald Koeman's Everton are likely going to cause some of their fellow title rivals problems this year. Wayne Rooney looks to have a new lease of life and Gylfi Sigurdsson and Michael Keane are also two very good signings.
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On another note, Guardiola got it wrong in the beginning but should be given credit for his changes in personnel and formation throughout the match. He demonstrated his adaptability and willingness to manage a crisis situation.
On the face of things, it is always disappointing to drop points at home but given the events of the game and the general psychological block City seem to have when it comes to Everton, the 1-1 draw was definitely a positive result, especially given some of the club's 'favourable' fixtures in the coming weeks.
