Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CITY SHAKEN
Pep’s 10 men save a point but watching Jose will hardly lose any sleep!
Sterling (Jesus 45, 7), Danilo (Stones 65, 6), Bernardo Silva (Sane 69, 7)
Sigurdsson (Davies 61, 6), Klaassen (Williams 61, 6),
Besic (Rooney 90) WITH both his fists pumping, there is unlikely to be a more vigorous celebration from Pep Guardiola this season.
He knew Raheem Sterling’s late equaliser was worth more than just a point. He knew defeat would have fuelled the doubts and the doubters after just one home game.
He knew the focus would be on the effectiveness of his fantasy football. He knew the pressure would already be full on.
Even though Kyle Walker was sent off in the first half – the numbers were evened up late on by Morgan Schneiderlin’s dismissal for a second yellow – Guardiola knew the scrutiny would be on him and his spending.
That is why he was relieved with a point. And one thing is for sure . . life is not going to be dull at the Etihad.
If there was actually anyone out there who thought a salutary first season in the Premier League might curb Guardiola’s sense of adventure, that surely is no longer the case after just two matches.
From the moment Walker steamed forward into the post-firework smoke a millisecond after kick-off, it was clear his job title bore little relevance to full-back.
It was not often in his 44-minute stay that Walker was within shouting distance of the central defensive three or his goalkeeper.
Ditto Leroy Sane on the opposite flank. Even Nicolas Otamendi did not seem too preoccupied with maintaining any sort of safety-first position, twice barrelling forward in the first half to have a shy from range. On the second occasion Jordan Pickford put a rare hand wrong, parrying back into danger, but was rescued by Phil Jagielka’s calm intervention.
Pickford is certainly confident, decisive in his intervention and ambitious in his distribution. That is the real eye-catcher, his slingshot passing with either foot. Glenn Hoddle with gloves.
The Pickford ping looked the most likely source of Everton threat but City’s aversion to defensive discipline can always be relied on to give opponents a hand, as a watching Jose Mourinho (left) will have noted .
So it proved when Sane’s illadvised scrambling attempt to keep the ball in play only gifted Everton possession. Perhaps because of his previous ineffectiveness, no one noticed Rooney making his way into the area and his left-footed conversion of Dominic Calvert-lewin’s simple pass also owed a deal to the tangled legs on Ederson.
Maybe it was the frustration with another minor keeping calamity, maybe it was the frustration with a string of near misses – David Silva’s strike against a post being the closest of them – but City’s discipline deserted them.
It certainly deserted Walker. Booked by Bobby Madley for a late, if not overly violent, lunge on Leighton Baines, he then had a peak at Calvert-lewin before putting his shoulder into him.