City had lost their last five matches across all competitions, the worst run of form in all of boss Pep Guardiola’s managerial career. Ironic therefore that the 53 year old Spaniard should sign a new two-year contract with the club four games into this poor sequence of results.
At least the slump was halted with this hard fought 3-3 result but at the cost of throwing away a three goal lead against Feyenoord. Three goals conceded in the last 15 minutes had the fans booing at the final whistle with quite a few making their feelings known towards the departing players.
But with leaders Liverpool away next up at the weekend can Cityzen fans really think their team are back on track? If City lose that game they will be 11 points behind the Reds and even at this early stage of the Premiership campaign Guardiola has freely admitted this would be too big a gap to close.
On this performance the last team they want to be playing next is Liverpool. Having found their goalscoring form their fragility under pressure still needs to be addressed.
City fans aren’t the most vocal at the best of times but they certainly made more of an effort in the first half as their team saw chances blocked or saved. But I did hear the occasional shout of get it forward as City looked for an opening. Suddenly City’s style of patient play was making the fans impatient.
The noisy Feyenoord fans played on the nervousness of the home support by singing the Liverpool anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” followed by chanting the name of Reds boss Arne Slot. That provoked a reaction from the Etihad!
The break they needed came just before the break as Erling Haaland was awarded a controversial penalty which the Feyenoord keeper Timon Wellenreuther protested about long and hard. Haaland had to wait before hammering home from 12 yards to a roar of relief from the Etihad although the Norwegian international had looked less that confident beforehand.
After 18 trophies in his eight full seasons at City plus the historic Treble as recently as 2023 it seemed ridiculous to be talking of team and manager in crisis but it precisely because of this stellar record that the current form is unprecedented.
But two quick goals at the start of the second half from Ilklay Gundogan and Haaland saw Guardiola spend more time on the bench rather than prowling the technical area looking mostly frustrated for the first half.
Sloppiness at the back allowed the visitors back into the game through Anis Hadi Moussa and Guardiola was again a visible presence. On current form even a two goal cushion suddenly proved problematic as Feyenoord pulled another goal back and the odd boo could heard from the home support.
As Sir Alex Ferguson once famously said it was “squeaky bum” time. And so it proved to be. Two more goals had Feyenoord level and the fans fuming at the final whistle.
For Guardiola he probably thought his luck had turned and whilst no one doubts the quality of his players it is now their character which is being questioned.
