City’s lack of scoring vexes Pep
Familiar tale of botched chances lets visitor Everton off the hook
MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola expressed fears that his team’s scoring problems remain an issue after it drew 1-1 with Everton in its opening Premier League home game on Monday.
Wayne Rooney put the Toffees ahead in the 35th minute and City had Kyle Walker controversially sent off before halftime, but the host hit back to level through substitute Raheem Sterling’s volley eight minutes from time.
City regularly struggled to finish off teams last season, drawing seven home games in the league, and when asked if his side’s latest display recalled their travails from 2016-17, Guardiola replied: “Yep.”
“We created three, four chances before the goal. They play man-to-man, six, eight players there, closing down,” he said.
“(Ashley) Williams, (Phil) Jagielka, (Michael) Keane, (Leighton) Baines, all the guys, they are very good in one-against-one.
“We tried to find the way to attack them and we did it. When the opposition arrives once in the box and scores a goal, that can happen.
“Our amount of opportunities on target or close to the target was good. We were there all the time. We never gave up, with the spirit of the Mancunians.
“All we can do is try to create chances. Maybe one day we’ll change. We’ll find it.
“Last season we were the first or second team for creating clear chances. I think the first one. We just made (scored) 16 percent.
“In that level, it’s results. In our box, it was perfect. They arrived once. But, OK, we will improve.”
For the second time this season, Guardiola started with Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus as his front two, but he withdrew Jesus at halftime as part of the reshuffle that followed Walker’s homedismissal.
Booked for sliding in on Leighton Baines, the summer signing from Tottenham was shown a second yellow card by referee Robert Madley two minutes later following a fairly innocuous collision with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who again impressed on attack.
Guardiola refused to talk about Madley in his postmatch media conference.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman also had reason to rue one of the referee’s decisions after he, too, lost a player to a harsh second booking, with Morgan Schneiderlin sent off late on for a sliding tackle on Aguero.
Koeman suggested Schneiderlin’s dismissal had been on the cards from the moment Walker trudged off.
“I was in a good position and in my opinion he (Schneiderlin) played the ball,” said Koeman, who gave a debut to club-record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson.
“But away against City, he’s sending off one player of City and a difficult situation, you know what the referee will do then. A yellow and his second and it’s red. You can expect it.”
Koeman said he was “disappointed” to see Sterling equalize, but added it was a “good point” to take back to Merseyside.
Rooney’s goal, a first-time finish from Calvert-Lewin’s
Uruguay and Argentina set to announce 2030 World Cup bid
square pass, was his 200th in the Premier League.
The former Manchester United striker celebrated by cupping his ears in front of City’s fans, many of whom spent the entirety of the match goading him.
“He is still that player that every manager needs in his team and maybe more for Everton. He is back home,” said Koeman, who brought 31-year-old Rooney back to Goodison Park from United in July.
“We have young players. We had three players of 20 years on the pitch against City and they did a great job. He is that experienced player, that teacher of young players. We’d like to win titles and he knows how you win titles.
“It’s a big step up for the young players. Against Stoke I was really pleased with his performance.
“Also tonight, I’m very happy about his play.”
MANCHESTER — Everton star Wayne Rooney said becoming only the second player to score 200 English Premier League goals when he netted in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Monday night was a sweet moment.
The 31-year-old, who joined Alan Shearer in reaching the landmark, added he was sure fans from his former club Manchester United would have enjoyed it too.
Rooney rejoined Everton, the club where he made his name as a teenager, from United this summer after he became a peripheral figure there under Jose Mourinho.
“It was nice,” Rooney told Sky Sports. “To do it today in such an important game for us, with tough games coming up, it was