De Roon delivers a late sting in the tail for Guardiola
ALL that talk of a Manchester City procession to the Premier League title has been exposed as laughably premature.
Pep Guardiola has seen his side held by Southampton, Everton and now Middlesbrough in consecutive domestic home games following the shock of conceding Marten de Roon’s 92nd-minute equaliser.
Sergio Aguero had put City ahead with his 150th goal for the club but the Argentine won’t be in any mood to celebrate the milestone.
City’s perfect start, 10 wins out of 10 following Pep’s arrival, suddenly seems a long time ago. And it is not as if they can play Barcelona every week. Middlesbrough goalkeeper Victor Valdes was inspired on his return to Manchester, where he spent an unhappy 18 months making just two appearances and falling out with Louis van Gaal at Manchester United.
He made a string of saves, most notably a world-class one from David Silva, before conceding to Aguero in the 43rd minute.
City dominated with 71-percent possession but could not make the game safe, paying the price a couple of minutes after Aguero had departed to a standing ovation. George Friend crossed to the far post where Dutchman De Roon had peeled off Gael Clichy to power in a header for his first Boro goal.
Guardiola was uncharacteristically graceless afterwards. Partly due to his understandable disappointment and partly perhaps because Boro’s manager Aitor Karanka used to be No2 to Guardiola’s nemesis, Jose Mourinho, at Real Madrid and had claimed before the match that Mourinho was the better coach.
‘We played well, we created more than enough chances to win the game,’ said Guardiola.
‘They played with 10 players in the box for 90 minutes. If we had won 1-0, we would be talking about a good performance.
Asked to compliment Boro’s defensive steel, Guardiola snapped: ‘I am not here to talk about the performance of my opponent. Their coach knows better than me the way they want to play. They scored with their only chance.’
Only when talking about Aguero’s 150th did the City boss lighten up. ‘Big congratulations. A huge mark, I only scored 11 in my career,’ he smiled.
Kevin De Bruyne angled in a perfect low cross that Aguero explosively converted from. An onslaught looked on the cards but Karanka shook his players up at half-time.
‘We showed City too much respect and when you only defend against big teams, you are going to concede,’ he said.
‘I told the players we had to go and play with our intensity and style. That’s what we did.’
Boro’s improved second-half show was rewarded at the death.
De Roon’s late goal changed the mood at the Etihad, too. City fans are now anxious about the title race and not bullish.