Boro rain on Pep’s parade
■ Marten de Roon looks shocked that he has scored a late equaliser for Middlesbrough at the Etihad.
PEP GUARDIOLA might have found a way to beat Barcelona, but he’ s still learning lessons about the Premier League.
A goal up and the clock ticking down, he’d settled for an uninspiring 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.
He’d replaced two of his men who’d shone against Barca, Sergio Aguero and midfielder Il kay Gundogan, and was mentally adding the three points to Manchester City’s total.
Then, with stoppage time already underway, Marten De Roon headed in George Friend’s cross and two of those points were gone.
Aitor Karanka’s team deserved something if only because they didn’t crumble when City took their 43rd- minute lead, with Aguero’s 150th goal for the club.
In fact, though keeper Victor Valdes made a couple of good saves in the first half, City hadn’t mustered a shot on target in the second.
Boro have now drawn at the Emirates and the Etihad in successive away games. Not bad going for a newly-promoted club.
But, frankly, City were awful in the second half. When you’ve just beaten Barcelona, anything else is likely to be an anti-climax – so after the magic came the mundane.
And after getting their Premier League campaign back on track at West Brom last week, City have now drawn three home games on the trot. Unsurprisingly, Guardiola refused to accept that he’d thought the game was won.
“In any league, when you arrive in the last minute at just 1-0, anything can happen,” he said.
“I’m sad for my players because they didn’t deserve that.
“We did absolutely everything to win the match. We controlled the game and in the last minute we conceded. It is a pity. We did a lot of good things.
“It wasn’t a hangover after Barcelona. We started amazing and played really well in the first half.
“We created six or seven chances and when you miss you have to accept that.
“We’ve dropped six points in the last three home games, but Everton, Southampton and now Middlesbrough have arrived in our box a total of four or five times.
“But the League is still long and we are still there.”
City appeared to be out to break all ball possession records in the opening quarter, with figures edging towards 90 per cent at one point.
Despite that, they had nothing to show for it, with no clear sightings of goal until Aleksandar Kolarov hit one straight at Valdes in the 23rd minute.
Kevin De Bruyne pulled a shot just wide of a post a minute later, but Valdes’ first proper save didn’t come until the 31st minute when he blocked Aguero’s effort with his legs.
John Stones headed David Silva’s corner across the goalline just a fraction in front of Aguero and in the 34th minute Valdes saved brilliantly from Silva.
Boro hung on until two minutes before the break when Aguero got between two defenders to poke in De Bruyne’s cleverly delivered low cross from six yards out.
Jesus Navas could have taken the game away from Boro in stoppage time, but his shot struck the outside of a post. Most in the Etihad were expecting the floodgates to open, but they stayed firmly closed. In fact, Boro responded well.
City old boy Alvaro Negredo had barely had a touch in the first half, but a minute into the second period he tried to lob Claudio Bravo from the centre circle and almost succeeded.
The City keeper had to back-pedal furiously to tip the ball over for a corner. Bravo then saved well from Adam Forshaw as City’s sleeping defence suddenly opened up.
City just couldn’t hit their stride. Gundogan and Fernandinho fired wide and Aguero headed over. At the other end, John Stones had to stretch to deny Stewart Downing.
Off came Gundogan, Navas and Aguero with the game seemingly won. Not in the Premier League. Friend crossed from the left and De Roon was too strong for Gael Clichy at the back post and headed powerfully past Claudio Bravo.
Boro boss Karanka said: “It was a more difficult point to win than the one against Arsenal.
“But both games showed we can compete against two of best teams in this League and in the world.
“We don’t have much experience of the Premier League, so to keep adding points is important.”