Saturday’s early kick-off in the Premier League saw both teams have to battle on without hugely important players.
Newcastle United were without striker Alexander Isak, while Manchester City now know they will be without midfield lynchpin Rodri for the rest of the season thanks to an ACL injury suffered against Arsenal last weekend.
So how did the two teams try and plug the gap?
The Athletic’s Chris Waugh, Sam Lee and Mark Carey assess the key elements of the game…
City need more non-Haaland goals
Heading into this match, Erling Haaland had scored 76 per cent of City’s league goals this season. While the Norwegian is making the headlines with hat-tricks and, last weekend anyway, other antics, it is easy to focus on his obvious prowess inside the area. It does also mean, however, that City’s lack of threat in other areas has flown under the radar.
It is not that City do not have quality players who can score goals, the issue is more that they have been unavailable or out of form. Ilkay Gundogan was an obvious source of goals in his glorious first spell at City but so far he has not been the same player, which was most evident on Saturday. Phil Foden can be put into a similar category, while Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri are injury absences.
Jack Grealish was excellent at Newcastle but, as he himself noted recently, “I have a great shot, it just always gets blocked.” Jeremy Doku and Savinho need to brush up on their end product and for the most part, City’s defenders are not really a threat at set-pieces.
This is probably not something that is going to continue for long, but it has been evident at the start of the season, albeit not actually an issue because Haaland has made up for the shortfall.
Gvardiol is one player with a goal in him, as he showed with five during the run-in last season, and he showed that against at St James’, but they are going to need more, especially when they set up to keep the ball, as they did here, but struggle to actually do that consistently.
Sam Lee
Josko Gvardiol gives City the lead at St James’ Park (James Gill/Getty Images)
Anthony Gordon, Newcastle’s emergency striker
It felt inevitable that Newcastle would be left without a fit senior recognised striker at some stage, given Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson’s injury records.
William Osula may have arrived during the summer as a “project player”, but the 21-year-old has made only one substitute appearance. Instead, Anthony Gordon, who was the focus of Wor Flags’ pre-match stadium display, was shifted inside, with Eddie Howe describing him as Newcastle’s “third striker”, after Isak was ruled out with a broken toe.
It was only the fourth Premier League match since the start of last season that Newcastle have played without a recognised centre-forward. They have failed to win any of them, drawing three and losing one.
While Gordon offers less of a focal point up front, he does provide relentless pressing. Newcastle’s intensity was not quite back to its peak, but they certainly showed more energy than during their first five top-flight games. It was Gordon who harried Manchester City’s centre-backs and Ederson, nicking the ball high up a couple of times and disrupting their build-up.
But when it came to actual penalty-box threat, Newcastle lacked much. Of Gordon’s 14 first-half touches, only one was in the area, while he did not manage a shot before the break.
Still, it was Gordon’s pace and direct running which brought Newcastle level. Bruno Guimaraes played a round-the-corner pass in behind the Manchester City defence, Gordon sprinted through, flicked the ball wide of Ederson, then left his body there for the goalkeeper to clip. The 23-year-old then stepped up and confidently dispatched the penalty.
Gordon kissed the badge as he celebrated, having admitted before the game he is “close” to agreeing a new long-term deal. He may not be a natural striker, but Gordon is invaluable to Newcastle given his versatility and potency.
Chris Waugh
Akanji steps up to fill Rodri void
Manchester City’s week was dominated by the question of how they are going to cope without the peerless presence of Rodri in the centre of the park.City have dealt with major injuries before in recent seasons, but a whole campaign without the metronomic midfielder is arguably the toughest test for Pep Guardiola. From this afternoon’s evidence, it looks like the solution can be taken from last season’s archives.
In possession, Manuel Akanji would be the one to step into midfield areas from left centre-back, sitting alongside Mateo Kovacic which allowed Rico Lewis to push forward as a right-sided No 8 to support City’s attack.
That left a back three of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol as City built out from the back, but that didn’t stop Gvardiol from pushing on himself and supporting the attack. It was the Croatian international’s underlapping run that saw him pop up in the box and beautifully control Jack Grealish’s pass — who held the width in City’s attack — before opening the scoring like a seasoned goalscorer.
Rodri’s absence will be sorely missed across the season, but City have such versatility within their squad that subtle tweaks to players’ roles means they have more than enough quality to cope.
Mark Carey
What did Eddie Howe say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What did Pep Guardiola say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Newcastle?
Tuesday, October 1: Wimbledon (H), Carabao Cup, 7.45pm BST, 2.45pm ET
Saturday, October 5: Everton (A), Premier League, 5.30pm BST, 12.30pm ET
What next for Manchester City?
Tuesday, October 1: Slovan Bratislava (A), Champions League, 8pm BST, 3pm ET
Saturday, October 5: Fulham (H), Premier League, 3pm BST, 10am ET
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(Top photo: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
