Erling Haaland Runs the Show in The Second Half to Decompose the Blues

Everton were the victims of a second-half overload from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, with the main man, Erling Haaland, running the show.

The Everton lineup was, from a fan’s perspective, unsure up until the announcement of the starting 11 an hour before kickoff, due to the fact that Jack Grealish was unavailable for selection due to terms in the loan contract that restricted the 30-year-old from featuring against his parent club, forcing the winger to watch the clash from the stands.

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Lineups:

Manchester City:

Donnarumma

Nunes

Dias

Ake

O'Reilly

Gonzalez

Savio

Reijnders

Foden

Doku

Haaland

Everton:

Pickford

Mykolenko

Tarkowski

Keane

O'Brien

Gueye

Garner

Alcaraz

Dewsbury-Hall

Ndiaye

Beto

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The Toffees started the game surprisingly well, defying the expectations, which was a Man City overload, mainly due to the importance of the fixture for the blue side of Manchester, as the top spot of the league is extremely tight at this moment in time, with a win taking Guardiola’s side first, with Arsenal and Bournemouth all playing today, and Liverpool tomorrow. Due to the eventual victory and results elsewhere, Manchester City finish the day in second. However, David Moyes’ side started very well, creating chances, but for some reason, could not convert and open the scoring.

A very notable chance to potentially gain a quick-fire advantage over such tough opposition was through Iliman Ndiaye, who, in fairness, had an incredible game. In the 14th minute of action, the Senegalese international picked up the ball on the right wing after intercepting Nathan Aké’s pass on its way to young fullback Nico O’Reilly. Seeing Beto making a fantastic run through on goal, Ndiaye played a fantastic through ball across goal. The Portuguese striker had an amazing opportunity to score in an empty net but lunged at it and ended up completely miss-kicking the ball, with it heading out for a goal kick.

It’s not the first time the 27-year-old has missed a clear-cut chance this season. During the international break for the World Cup qualifiers, Guinea-Bissau, the nation Beto represents, faced Ethiopia. During the game, Beto received the ball, almost exactly in the same position as the chance today. This time, however, the striker didn’t lunge but instead stood up, and whilst taking a shot, muddled his feet up, and the chance went astray.

Everton’s striker selection this season is, to put it plain and simple, lacklustre, with both Barry and Beto not showcasing impressive performances when they are on the pitch. Seeing the opposition strikers, such as the likes of Jean-Philippe Mateta and Hugo Ekitike/Alexander Isak, it comes as no surprise where the Evertonians’ frustration stems from!

The Norwegian international is a prime example too, with Erling Haaland being the star man for City, especially in the second half. The 25-year-old had a couple of chances in the first half too, forcing Jake O’Brien to head the ball onto Pickford’s crossbar from a corner due to sheer physicality and an opportunity to slot one home if it weren’t for a last-moment goal-line clearance from Ukrainian fullback Vitalii Mykolenko.

In the second half is where Haaland, and Man City in general, stepped it up. Although it was an impressive start by the Toffees, it was inevitable that Pep’s side would overcome and decompose Everton, doing so with ease. It only took City 13 minutes after the break to open the scoring. Iliman Ndiaye and Jake O’Brien were struggling to retain their shape, as the tactic seemed to be when the opposition were in possession, drop to a back 5 with Ndiaye at right back, and whilst in transition, Nico O’Reilly made a run and received the ball from a through ball from Phil Foden. Whilst countering, Haaland was in the mixer, and when the ball eventually was crossed in, the Norwegian took a step back to retain a lot of space to execute a powerful header in, doing so and slotting it past Pickford.

Only 5 minutes later and it was 2-0, coming from, as expected, Haaland. This time Savinho picked up the ball on the left wing, whilst Haaland dropped back to make space, a simple layoffand first-time finish that trickled through the legs of Jordan Pickford, who has just recently devoted another 4 years at the club, increasing the advantage to two. Eventually, the game ran out of any more real chances; a couple of shots that perhaps should have been scored by Man City, but some good saves by the goalkeeper prevented any more goals.

It doesn't get any easier for the Toffees either due to the fact that Everton welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Hill Dickinson Stadium, who are unbeaten since late August, and then go away to Sunderland. With this season to be anything to go by, the Stadium of Light is turning out to be a very difficult place to get a result, with the Black Cats unbeaten on their home turf this season.

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Thank you for reading my post-match article!