I'm surprised to see that Manchester City could play up to 70 minutes without scoring a goal against Brentford. Manchester City dominated Brentford with 70% ball possession and a 25-goal attempt against Brentford, but managed to score a goal against Brentford last night. If Manchester City continues to find it difficult to score goals against their opponents, they will find it hard to catch up with Liverpool in the Premier League table.
Yes, in the first half, Brentford and Manchester City were still playing in a draw and no goals were scored and to be honest, I also thought that at that time the match would end in a draw. and yes, it is true that Manchester City had a lot of possession of the ball and there were also a lot of shots towards goal, but unfortunately Manchester City were not able to take full advantage of the opportunities, but it seems that because De Bruyne was not played by Guardiola, it was very influential in Manchester City's game, but the actions taken What Guardiola is doing is certainly very good because it is to maintain De Bruyne's health because what I heard is that De Bruyne's health is a little disturbed. Yes, if Manchester City's performance continues like this it will make it difficult to compete, but I'm sure Guardiola's abilities are very good and he will definitely train Manchester City to be even better.
Erling Haaland was the distinguishing figure in this match, one goal he scored made Manchester City win the match. Brentford really succeeded in protecting their defensive area and made it difficult for Manchester City to dismantle the defense they had built. However, with pressure after pressure they applied, it finally paid off in the 71st minute and allowed them to secure 3 points from this match. However, I still applaud Brentford, even though they lost, they didn't lose easily and made Manchester City a little stressed.
This result makes Manchester City return to second place in the standings, shifting Arsenal, as well as closing their distance to Liverpool, who are still at the top of the standings. Liverpool, who are at the top of the standings, will not be comfortable, because they are only 1 point away from the defending champion, Manchester City. The competition will be more interesting towards the end of the season, because the distance between them is very close and it can really change in just a week.
What is more interesting is that the statistical records this season for the two clubs are not much different, even in terms of productivity and defense they do not show any significant differences. This shows that they are truly balanced this season, despite the mistakes they made previously which prevented them from winning. But overall they played well.