Manchester City threw away their Premier League game at Newcastle - only to rescue it with another incredible comeback that showed how difficult it will be to outscore them this season.
A terrible defensive performance that allowed Newcastle to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead on the hour-mark was bailed out by superstar striker Erling Haaland and midfield maestro Kevin De Bruyne, the pair pouncing like seasoned predators to turn what had been an infuriating afternoon for Pep Guardiola into a point they will happily take home after taking on an inspired Newcastle.
This was City's third fixture of the campaign and the third consecutive time they had played a team that hadn't suffered a defeat or conceded a goal this season. West Ham obviously hadn't first up, but Bournemouth arrived at the Etihad last week on the back of beating Aston Villa to nil and Newcastle had two clean sheets to go with their four points from the opening matches.
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This ground has been a banana skin for Guardiola in previous years under both Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce and the atmosphere on Sunday was far improved given the optimism that finally surrounds Newcastle again. Despite a flawless record of 10 wins out of 10 against Eddie Howe, there was good reason for the City manager to urge caution on his players ahead of this one.
Not that it seemed that way initially. Newcastle forgot to close down Bernardo Silva - making his first league start of the season with Jack Grealish absent with an injury and Riyad Mahrez benched - in the final third and forgot to mark Ilkay Gundogan in the box; one Blue shirt passed to the other and the visitors had the lead after just five minutes.
It may not have been had City scored one of the two excellent opportunities they created soon after. Nick Pope saved with his feet first from Kevin De Bruyne after an excellent Erling Haaland through-ball then from Phil Foden when, as with last week, the square ball to Haaland was on.
To the credit of Howe and his team, they gave as good as they got and troubled the City backline in a way that West Ham and Bournemouth didn't come close to doing. Bruno Guimaraes began to wrestle control of the midfield away from Rodri and the pace and guile of Miguel Almiron, Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson unsettled and unnerved the City defence.
Guardiola wasn't helped by the enforced substitution of Nathan Ake after 20 minutes with what looked like a groin injury, but Newcastle should already have had a goal by then as Almiron blazed over from yards out with the goal at his mercy. The fact that the onslaught continued with the introduction of Ruben Dias pointed to wider failings from a City side that was buckling at the back under pressure.
Ederson saved well from Saint-Maximin before being bailed out by Joao Cancelo when he unwisely ran out of his goal to try and cut Almiron out, but the City backline could not get any semblance of organisation at the back. They thought the offside flag had reprieved them after Rodri and Kyle Walker got in each other's way and watched Saint-Maximin float a ball over for Almiron to turn home; VAR confirmed it was a legitimate goal and City had conceded their first goal of the season.
If Guardiola permanently adopting the brace position wasn't enough of a wake-up call, the equaliser should have been. Bernardo had some words with Ederson as they looked to take advantage of the space in behind Dan Burn at left-back.
But instead they found themselves powerless to resist more waves of pressure as the Gallowgate roared on the bold football taking it to the defending champions. When Callum Wilson found space between the centre-backs to put them in front before half-time, nobody in the stadium was surprised.
Liam Gallagher summed up the mood of supporters shortly into the second half when he tweeted "Come on City FFS" and Haaland almost instantly responded, working space and getting off a shot with his right that Pope did very well to turn onto the post. A minute later though, it was 3-1 after more pain from a familiar source: Stones brought down Saint-Maximin 25 yards out and City academy graduate Kieran Trippier slammed the free-kick over the wall and past Ederson.
City's day looked over, yet from nowhere they were level. The No.9 they have been missing for two years slammed one home from a corner, then after he couldn't convert a one-on-one De Bruyne produced a ridiculously-good through ball that had no right to find Bernardo through a crowd of Newcastle defenders, with the Portugal international finishing calmly.
There were three goals in the 12 minutes after Haaland hit the post, yet it felt like 12 seconds with the game being played at such a furious pace. It was schoolyard stuff, feeling like it was 18 vs 19 on dinner break as play surged from one end to another and the action refused to relent when referee Jarred Gillett sent Trippier off for a late tackle on De Bruyne that infuriated the Belgian - only to overturn his decision after watching a replay on the screen.
Having thrown away the game, the Blues had invoked the spirit of their Aston Villa performance to come back from the dead again - and with nearly half-an-hour to find a winner. Or, given the continued state of their defence, for Newcastle to get their noses back in front.
As the board went up for five minutes of injury time, the home fans that had been so jubilant for so long were restless, whistling every bit of City possession and cheering when Bernardo sent a ball safely into the arms of the man-of-the-match Pope. An incredible end to an incredible game.
City may have been disappointed with the point they take home before kick-off, yet at the final whistle there was relief to have salvaged something when things looked so desperate at 3-1. The first winning run of the season ends at two but they are still, remarkably after this match, unbeaten.
Guardiola and his players did not need a reminder that coming to Newcastle is hard (having failed to win three of the last five league games here now), or that perfect starts to the season are tough (this being the sixth successive season they have failed to win their opening three matches) or that the Premier League title race was not ended by Liverpool's draw with Crystal Palace (this one being so obvious it didn't need any brackets).
They were given one anyway, a lesson that if they don't convert their chances or defend properly they will struggle to win football matches. At the same time, the character and quality they showed to come back should send a message out to the rest of the league that it will take something very special to beat them over 90 minutes.
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