Facing a promising situation with a two-goal lead, Manchester City unexpectedly collapsed in the final moments! Although they didn't lose, being scored twice by their opponents turned three points into one, which indeed made Manchester City fans particularly angry.
Until the last moment, Brentford still had multiple chances to score a decisive goal. If it weren't for Ake's miraculous performance in front of the goal, it would have been a struggle for Manchester City to even get a point. Not winning means that the team is one step further away from their hopes of making a comeback and winning the title.
After the game, Guardiola found goalkeeper Ortga and reprimanded him emotionally and intensely. It is clear that Guardiola believes Ortga bears significant responsibility for the late-game conceded goals.
Looking back at this conceded goal, it is obvious that Brentford, in an attempt to equalize the score, had fully pressed forward at this point. At this time, there were significant issues with Manchester City's defensive positioning; the players were not close enough to each other, and there was insufficient pressure on the ball carrier. Mentally, it seemed they did not take it seriously enough. Moreover, several attacking players still wanted to counterattack and thus did not fully retreat to defend.
Lewis Potter evaded the defense and easily sent the ball into the penalty area, where Norgaard headed the ball past Akangi to score. This goal was indeed beautiful, and with its close proximity and considerable power, it was difficult for the goalkeeper to make a save, let alone Ortga who had already tried his best. Therefore, this conceded goal has little to do with him. If we must find fault, we can only say that Ortga did not anticipate early enough to come out and punch the ball out of the penalty area, or perhaps his positioning was slightly too deep, but these are nitpicking.
In fact, Guardiola should have spoken to another person, and even scolded them if necessary; this person is Gundogan.
Those who watched this game, or are familiar with Manchester City fans, probably have this feeling: whenever Gundogan comes on, it always gives people an uneasy premonition.
At the 76th minute of the game, Guardiola replaced Kovacic with Gundogan, and from a tactical perspective, this substitution seems to be without issue. After nearly 80 minutes of play, Kovacic's physical condition had reached its limit. And at this point, the opponent was gaining momentum, and the holding midfielder is a key link in midfield defense, requiring a physically fit holding midfielder to step up.
Although it was a positional adjustment, since returning from Barcelona, Gundogan has had few outstanding opportunities. There have been more mistakes and missed tackles, and he often appears out of sync with his teammates in terms of tactical positioning.
However, perhaps Guardiola considered that as the game approached the 80th minute, as long as Gundogan came on and fully committed to running and defending, there shouldn't be a big problem. But what he didn't expect was that it was precisely after Gundogan's entry that Brentford's attacks gradually increased, until they couldn't be contained, resulting in two consecutive goals.
So, shouldn't Guardiola have vented his emotions to Gundogan after the game?
If it weren't for Ake clearing the ball twice in an open goal situation, the result of this game would have been like this, and both Guardiola and Gundogan would definitely have been criticized by the media and fans!
During the game, if Kovacic's stamina was insufficient, Guardiola could replace him with Gundogan, but you can't expect his abilities to match those of Kovacic. Kovacic can handle your single holding midfielder tactic, basically freeing up B seat's offensive energy, allowing him to focus on tactical changes in the offensive end with De Bruyne.
If you insist on using Gundogan, Guardiola will inevitably have to make minor adjustments in positioning, which means that a nearby forward or defender must timely cover for Gundogan. However, because of the adjustment of one person, the overall tactics have changed, which is somewhat uneconomical.
After 21 rounds of matches, Manchester City has accumulated 35 points, trailing Liverpool at the top of the table by 12 points, and their opponents have one less game played. Although there is still a long way to go in the league, Manchester City's hopes for a miraculous comeback are almost gone. After all, their competitors are not just Liverpool, but also strong teams such as Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Arsenal, and others.