Jamie Jackson was at the Etihad. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Pep’s turn. “Bernardo had the ability to help us make long possessions … at that moment the game was broken … it worked perfectly … the first minutes Newcastle were better … we had to make some changes during the game … Bernardo helped us to come back … in the final of the Carabao Cup, in many minutes Newcastle were better than United … this club in the next years will be a real threat to fight for the titles … against this side you have to suffer … many things are going to happen … tomorrow I will sit in front of the TV to watch Anfield!”
Eddie Howe speaks to BT. “We were well in the game today … a similar performance to last week … we were good in the game, dynamic, aggressive, good with the ball … we hurt them at times but couldn’t put that final piece together … the second goal came at a bad time for us … there were moments for us … Joelinton’s chance at 1-0 sticks in my head … you need to be clinical with your chances because you’re not going to get many, and unfortunately that didn’t happen … we kept them relatively quiet … I thought we minimised their threat … the general performances have been very good … there’s still growth for us to get closer to Manchester City.”
Bernardo Silva made a statement on the pitch this afternoon, and now he makes another on BT Sport: “The chase is on!”
That’s a deserved win for Manchester City, who were the better team this afternoon. Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva both scored fine goals. But it was a slightly strange match as well, because despite being dominated for the most part, Newcastle carved out three highly decent scoring chances … but Sean Longstaff, Callum Wilson and Joelinton were unable to connect properly with any of them. On another day, etc. The Toon lose ground in the race for fourth as a result. City keep the title race very much alive. Over to Arsenal, who host relegation-haunted Bournemouth in the 3pms. Barry Glendenning will be all over that one.
FULL TIME: Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United
The whistle goes, and City close the gap on Arsenal at the top, for a couple of hours at least!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 25 | 33 | 60 |
| 2 | Man City | 26 | 41 | 58 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 24 | 13 | 49 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 11 | 45 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 24 | 18 | 41 |
90 min +4: Trippier aims for the bottom right. Easy for Ederson. “I think Haaland realises that at his size and strength, unleashing his rage on any unfortunate fool could lead to police charges and a stretch in the pokey,” argues Mary Waltz. “The happy giant is a better path.”
90 min +3: Gundogan knocks Murphy to the floor, 25 yards from goal. A free kick and a chance for a Newcastle consolation.
90 min +1: Lascelles is booked for complaining as Haaland and Foden take their sweet time over a corner.
90 min: There will be four additional minutes. Meanwhile Andre Street adds: “ … and David Lindley was guitarist in Kaleidoscope, whose efforts put much of the Premiership into perspective (as Spinal Tap mused).”
89 min: On BT Sport, Lucy Ward names Phil Foden as her player of the match. A selection that can’t be argued with. He’s been magnificent today.
88 min: Murphy fizzes a low cross through the City box from the right. Walker denies Isak the chance of slamming home at the far stick with a fine tackle.
87 min: Burn, who has been running a bit hot, is replaced by Targett.
86 min: Grealish glides in from the left, exchanging passes with Haaland on the edge of the box before slipping Foden into the box down the right. Foden opens his body and aims a sidefoot towards the bottom left. Pope does well to get down and save. That would have been a delightful goal.
85 min: Burn clanks a simple pass out for a throw. The home fans, not forgetting the earlier rumpus involving Grealish and Haaland, enjoyed that.
83 min: This match is otherwise petering out.
81 min: Lascelles wrestles Haaland to the floor. Haaland shoots him daggers, but eventually crumbles into laughter. The manner with which Haaland considers dishing out serious retribution, before thinking better of it and slipping into a state of high amusement, is extremely entertaining. God bless the opponent when Haaland doesn’t change his mind.
79 min: Murphy sends a fine cross in from the Newcastle right. Saint-Maximin prepares to slam home at the far post, but Walker intervenes at the expense of a corner, which is easily cleared. “What a incredible life the master Wayne Shorter led,” begins Mary Waltz. “As a pre-teen, Weather Report’s early tracks led me to explore jazz after a exclusive rock and roll diet. Birdland led to Miles led to bliss. A sidenote, David Lindley died this week. A master studio guitarist, His solo project with El Rayo X produced a quirky gumbo album of blues, reggae, and hybrid covers. Highly recommended.”
77 min: Gundogan wafts a dismal effort, intended for the top right, into the stand behind the goal. Meanwhile Murphy comes on for Almiron.
76 min: Guimaraes slips and smothers the ball with his arm, fearing Silva was about to run away with it towards the box. Into the book he goes, and it’s a free kick just to the right of the D.
75 min: Grealish isn’t so easily amused, though, and continues a debate with the fourth official. He’s clearly not happy at being cynically fouled. Pep steps in to put a stop to the back and forth, fearing his man might be talking his way into trouble.
74 min: A brouhaha explodes out of thin air. Haaland is beyond furious with Burn, and for a second it looks as though the two big men are preparing to throw hands. Haaland wasn’t happy with Burn’s nick at Grealish’s ankle, followed by an exchange of words as the Newcastle defender leered over the prone City winger. But it all calms down soon enough, the pair enjoying a laugh as they’re both booked.
72 min: Grealish dinks down the left flank for Gundogan, who wins a corner. Foden takes it short. It’s worked back to Gundogan, who curls a shot towards the top right. Easy for Pope, but this is quite the response to that period of Newcastle pressure.
71 min: Saint-Maximin clips Rodri out on the right flank. City load the box ahead of the free kick. Gundogan hoicks it across the face of goal. Nobody in sky blue can get a touch that would surely divert the ball into the net for a game-settling third.
69 min: Silva had been on the pitch for two minutes and 12 seconds. Some tactical response to Newcastle’s triple change by Pep Guardiola, huh?
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United (Silva 67)
Bernardo Silva makes an instant impact, and puts a stop to Newcastle’s gallop! Grealish snaffles a loose ball and grooves down the left wing. He drifts infield and lays off to Haaland, who shifts on immediately to Silva. He takes a touch before whistling a forensic shot into the bottom right! City needed that, and suddenly they’ve got a precious two-goal cushion!
Updated
66 min: Isak again makes a nuisance of himself down the right and dinks towards Saint-Maximin at the far stick. Newcastle are pushing for an equaliser all right. However …
65 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but that’s so much better from Newcastle. City respond by replacing De Bruyne with Silva.
64 min: The change nearly pays instant dividends! Willock fires a stunning low cross into the City box from the right. Joelinton swishes and misses six yards out! Then Newcastle come again, Isak jinking into the box from the right and nearly powering his way through Ederson. In aiming towards the bottom right, he goes over the keeper and forces a corner. A half-hearted claim for a penalty, but there’s nothing doing.
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63 min: Newcastle make a triple change. Saint-Maximin, Isak and Willock come on for Gordon, Wilson and Longstaff.
62 min: Grealish nicks the ball off Longstaff’s toe, then attempts to dribble past Joelinton, who fouls him. Joelinton, already in the book, wants to watch himself here.
60 min: Gundogan and De Bruyne juggle the ball down the inside-left channel, Haaland then meeting the dropping ball just inside the box with a swivel and lash. His shot sails high and wide.
58 min: Almiron drives forward, shuttling the ball towards Gordon on the left. Gordon checks back infield before sending a wild shot over the bar. Earlier in the move, Ake and Longstaff had clashed heads, the referee playing advantage. Ake goes into the book, which seems a bit harsh for what looked an accidental aerial collision, but here we are.
56 min: This half still hasn’t really got going. All a bit aimless.
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54 min: Grealish attempts to curl into the top right. Wide and high. On that subject, David Sutherland responds to Joe Pearson’s half-time poser by quipping: “Surely it has to be Jack Agrievelish.” Plenty of time still to go, of course, but that’s surely portmanteau of the day settled early doors.
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52 min: Joelinton crashes into Rodri, and that’s his tenth booking of the season. He’ll miss two games now.
50 min: De Bruyne turns away from Longstaff in the centre circle and into space down the left. He then clanks an extremely uncharacteristic clumsy pass, intended for Grealish, out for a goal kick. This half hasn’t quite got started yet.
48 min: Grealish sashays in from the left. He attempts to break into the box, past Trippier, but runs into his opponent. He wants a penalty, but the referee quite correctly shows no interest.
46 min: A free kick for Newcastle out on the right. Trippier swings it in. Rodri heads it clear. Otherwise, a fairly quiet start to the half.
Newcastle get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time entertainment, courtesy of the MBM’s resident musicologist Grant Tennille. “It’s too early to properly work up a email tenuously linking top flight English football and the passing of Wayne Shorter, so please enjoy the attached clip of some early sixties flow from the legend, alongside Herbie Hancock playing a piano sporting an ad hoarding. I imagine that had Miles Davis featured a similar hoarding, it might well have been for Rizla.”
Half-time postbag. “Who is the most aggrieved player in the Premier League: Grealish or Zaha? I know it’s a close-run contest, and I can’t decide” – Joe Pearson
“Are my eyes deceiving me or are the electronic advertising boards double the size of what I’ve ever seen before? It’s distracting enough for me 5,000 miles away, it’s got to be incredibly distracting for the players. It used to be that you paid for advertising by the yard, or newspaper space. Is the Premier League that hard up for money?” – Dan Weingrod
“Come on, no one really thought Newcastle were good enough for top four” – Jeff Sax
Half-time reading. Some big 3pm kick-offs today, including a rerun of the 1970 FA Cup final at Stamford Bridge. Here’s a little something to whet the appetite.
HALF TIME: Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United
The champions lead at the break. They’ve been by far the better team … and yet Newcastle carved out a couple of big chances that Longstaff and Wilson failed to take. Still very much in the balance, then … though as things stand, City will close to within two points of Arsenal at the top, for a couple of hours at least.
45 min +1: Guimaraes loops a diagonal pass towards Almiron, bombing down the right. Almiron slices into the side netting, and the flag goes up for offside.
45 min: De Bruyne is skittled from behind by Lascelles on the halfway line. Another possible booking that Newcastle get away with.
44 min: Almiron tries to get something going for Newcastle down the right, but there’s no route to the box. City force the visitors to turn tail.
42 min: Grealish one-twos with Ake down the left touchline. Trippier cynically clips him before he can receive the return pass. Just a free kick, though Grealish is incensed and wants some proper punishment dished out. No booking, though. Lucky Trippier.
40 min: A throw from the right finds Haaland in the Newcastle box. His determination and pure strength forces a corner. De Bruyne takes another poor one. Newcastle clear.
39 min: Foden slides Haaland into the Newcastle box down the right. Haaland briefly considers shooting from a tight angle but slips over instead.
37 min: … and then they suddenly move through the gears. Longstaff wedges down the inside-right channel. Trippier heads back into the centre for Wilson, who is in space in a central position, eight yards out. A great chance, but Wilson miskicks and City clear. For all City’s domination, Newcastle have now had two golden opportunities to score.
36 min: A little bit of possession for Newcastle in the middle third. They go nowhere in particular, but small acorns and all that.
34 min: Walker fires a diagonal pass wide left to De Bruyne, who whips towards Haaland on the right-hand corner of the box. Haaland heads weakly wide right. Pope was on point and almost certainly would have saved had the header been on target.
33 min: A brief cameo by Ederson, who first comes to the edge of a crowded box to punch clear, then flaps when the ball’s returned with interest. The ball nearly drops to the feet of Wilson, but City manage to clear before the striker can get a shot away.
31 min: Akanji and Wilson square up over a throw-in, for goodness sake. Pep races from his technical area to get in between the rutting stags, and it all calms down quickly enough. A throw-in, though.
Updated
29 min: Guimaraes goes down holding his ankle. He needs some attention from the trainer. He’ll continue … for now … though he doesn’t look too happy. He had been a fitness doubt before this game.
Updated
28 min: Trippier swings a low cross into the City box from the right. It’s easily cleared by Akanji and City counter, Foden once again making his presence known down the right. Newcastle swarm him and clear, but what trouble Foden is causing them.
26 min: De Bruyne slides down the inside-left channel and nearly releases Haaland into the box. Lascelles does just enough to hold off the striker and shepherd the ball through to Pope. The way City are dominating, a second goal is surely just a matter of time.
25 min: De Bruyne sends a pass wide right for Foden, who traps and flicks the ball behind him in one smooth movement before tearing into space again. Another Gazzaesque moment. He’s playing with such breezy confidence. It’s a great watch.
23 min: City are the bosses of Newcastle right now. Passing and probing, probing and passing. Newcastle can’t get a touch.
21 min: Rodri sprays a diagonal pass towards Foden on the right. Foden’s first touch takes him infield, past Burn, a sensational bit of skill. He rolls towards Gundogan, who very nearly bursts into the box down the middle. The move breaks down, but what control from Foden, who is playing some sweet football this week, having already held a masterclass in the west country midweek.
19 min: Foden again makes a nuisance of himself out on the right, and wins a corner off Burn. De Bruyne hits it long, and not particularly accurately. The Toon clear their lines.
17 min: That was a marvellous bustling run. But it’s nearly cancelled out immediately, Wilson slipping Longstaff into space, just inside the City box on the right. Longstaff can’t sort his feet out, though, allowing Ake to come across and block. That was a huge chance to equalise in short order.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United (Foden 15)
Foden is back in form all right! He dances in from the right wing, and dribbles into the box in Gazzaesque fashion. He swans his way past Gordon, Guimaraes and Botman, reaches the edge of the six-yard box, and shoots. He gets a deflection off Botman, and the ball whistles into the top right past the wrong-footed Pope. Easy as that! What a run!
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13 min: City have enjoyed 76 percent of possession so far. No great surprise there, especially when you factor in Newcastle’s record at the Etihad: they’ve never won here.
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12 min: De Bruyne looks to send the free kick into the top right, but skies the effort.
11 min: Gundogan drops a shoulder with a view to entering the Newcastle box from the left. Guimaraes clumsily clips him to the left of the D, and this is a free kick in a very dangerous position.
10 min: Joelinton goes down, requiring a little treatment. He’s up and about again quickly enough. Both teams have misplaced their early stores of energy.
8 min: A chance for Gordon to break into the City box. He slips, and the chance is gone.
6 min: A round of applause during the sixth minute in memory of a young City fan who sadly passed away.
Milly-Rose was a Man City fan. She was only 6 years old when she tragically died. Tomorrow City fans will be holding a mins applause on the 6th minute for Milly-Rose, please spread the word so we can join in to show our love and support. Rest in peace beautiful girl #mcfc #nufc pic.twitter.com/Hc4rTanHOZ
— Newcastle United FC Fans (@NewcUtdFCFans) March 3, 2023
5 min: After a fast start, a lull. Nina writes: “You mentioned City are in their usual sky blue, but neglected to mention their unusual pre-match kit, so I gave it a Google…” It’s worth clicking through all right, with City launching a kit range inspired by Emmeline Pankhurst to celebrate girls and women in football.
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4 min: Almiron and Longstaff combine down the right and win the first corner of the afternoon off Ake. The corner’s hit long. Lascelles rises highest at the far stick and plants a header goalwards. Rodri clears. A good start by Newcastle, this.
3 min: Ederson, under pressure from that Newcastle press, shanks a dismal clearance straight out of play. City look uncharacteristically jittery at the back during these early exchanges.
2 min: That was a good chance for Gundogan. He had to stretch and lean back to make the header, but had he guided it towards a corner, Pope wasn’t getting there.
Updated
City get the ball rolling. Newcastle press them hard from the get-go, pushing them back into their final third. Burn flings in a long throw but the hosts deal with it easily enough and counter. Grealish crosses from the left and Gundogan heads over. Brisk start!
The teams are out. Manchester City wear their sky blue, while Newcastle sport first-choice black and white stripes. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes. “Hard to believe a player of Mahrez’s quality and excellent form is only a substitute,” writes Dean Kinsella. “And Howe thinks his bench is strong!”
Eddie Howe talks to BT. “Training has been good in response to that defeat last week … we played well between both boxes but we are looking for a better performance in the critical areas … you always think about tweaking your team … our bench looks particularly strong … we’re going to need the whole squad today and everyone is ready to play … Anthony Gordon has worked with real intensity … it’s a really good opportunity for him today … Fabian Schar suffered a slight concussion against Manchester United … we want to show our intent early in the game.”
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Pep has a quick chat with BT Sport. “Newcastle have arrived and want to stay for a long, long time … I am sure they have already forgotten [the cup-final defeat] and want to finish the Premier League as high as possible … I expect the best from Newcastle … always we take a look at opponents, now Arsenal, in the past Liverpool … obviously we would prefer they lose, that is normal … but [Arsenal] make 50 points in the first leg of the season, they are so consistent, so we know we can drop few points if we want to stay there until the end … I have said for many months that Manchester United are back … the strangeness of the last seven or eight years was that they were not there.”
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Manchester City make two changes to the starting XI selected for the 4-1 rout of Bournemouth last weekend. Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker replace Julian Alvarez and Rico Lewis, who both drop to the bench.
Newcastle United make three changes to the team named for the League Cup final. Nick Pope returns in goal after suspension, replacing Loris Karius, while Martin Dubravka sits on the bench. Fabian Schar is injured so club captain Jamaal Lascelles takes his place, while Anthony Gordon makes his first start for the club since joining from Everton, Allan Saint-Maximin dropping to the bench.
The teams
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan Foden, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Phillips, Stones, Laporte, Alvarez, Silva, Mahrez, Palmer, Lewis.
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Almiron, Wilson, Gordon.
Subs: Dubravka, Saint-Maximin, Ritchie, Targett, Isak, Manquillo, Murphy, Willock, Anderson.
🔵 TEAM NEWS 🔵
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 4, 2023
XI | Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan (C), Foden, Grealish, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Stones, Laporte, Alvarez, Bernardo, Mahrez, Palmer, Lewis#ManCity | @HaysWorldwide pic.twitter.com/DVUylaQqd1
HOWAY NEWCASTLE! 👊#MCINEW pic.twitter.com/KVBh1PjlP6
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 4, 2023
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Preamble
It’s a big one this lunchtime. The top of the Premier League looks like at the moment …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 25 | 33 | 60 |
| 2 | Man City | 25 | 39 | 55 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 24 | 13 | 49 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 11 | 45 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 23 | 20 | 41 |
… which means Manchester City will be desperate for three points that would keep them on Arsenal’s tail – you’d have to think the leaders will beat struggling Bournemouth later this afternoon – while Newcastle United would love any sort of result that closes the gap on fourth-placed Spurs and keeps them in the hunt for a top-four finish. In short, it’s set up deliciously … and if we get a match that’s half as good as the reverse fixture back in August, we’ll be doing pretty well. Kick off is at 12.30pm GMT. It’s on!
