Manchester City 3 (Foden 1, 90+1, Gvardiol 25)​

Leeds United      2 (Calvert-Lewin 49, Nmecha 68)                                                

 

29th November 2025. EPL

55,097.

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Everyone thought Leeds would be hammered at the Etihad today, and, going a goal down inside two minutes, it looked like everyone was going to be proved correct! I didn’t even make it to my seat in time to see the goal, although I heard the roar coming through the walls of the gents!

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It looked and felt like the game we expected in the first half, even down to that opening goal, created yet again down the leaky Leeds left, even with new personnel in that area for the day. Coming so early in the game, it seemed that Leeds were, not for the first time this season, caught asleep. The second goal, scored in the 25th minute, was not a great advert for Leeds' defending either. We spent plenty of money on a huge goalkeeper and huge defenders to give us an advantage at corners and set-pieces, but you’d not think that was the case the way Perri flapped and the way City reacted first to the loose ball. We have to defend better than this.

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Daniel Farke never changes things early… so the saying goes, but today he decided to gamble and completely change the Leeds approach at the break. On came Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jaka Bijol, and off went both wingers – Willy and Dan, neither of whom was going to see much of the ball anyway if the game continued in the same manner. The change proved to be a master stroke, although it is still strange just how much it unsettled City. My guess is they are so programmed by Pep's game plan that they are unable to think for themselves, and events later in the game probably prove that!

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Scoring so early after the break probably compounded the problems in the City players' minds, too. Wasn’t it brilliant to see DCL finally show his goal poacher instincts? His touch actually let him down initially as he spun around trying to get on the end of Tanaka’s short through ball, but then he stayed alert and focused as Nunes made a suicidal touch into his path and, quick as a flash, DCL poked the ball into the net. DCL is a goal-poacher! Who’d have thought it!

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The chap next to me whispered “Dare to dream!” in my ear while my regular travel buddy had stuck a pound on Leeds to win at 100/1 at half time… none of us thought this was anything but a false dawn at that point, but City looked really rattled, and Leeds suddenly looked dangerous. Another long ball aimed at DCL didn’t quite find the target, but Jayden Bogle continued to chase and managed to nod it inside to DCL on the first bounce, who, once again, was willing to chase a potential lost cause. This time, he got lucky again, though, as Gvardiol slid in and took DCL’s legs, not the ball, and Leeds had a penalty. Lukas Nmecha struck the penalty well enough, but Donnarumma guessed the right way and got his hands to it to push it out. Once again, Leeds were on their toes, though, and Nmecha swiftly followed in his own shot to prod the rebound home. 2 – 2, and this really was dreamland.

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After the game, Foden admitted that it was only after Donnarumma went down with an ‘injury’ and all the other City players were able to jog over to get an impromptu lesson from Pep Guardiola in how to deal with 4 - 4 – 2, that City finally came up with a new plan to cope with Leeds. Farke could be seen discussing the ‘injury’ with the City Keeper long after the final whistle was blown, and Farke claimed in his interviews with the media that it was “cheating”.  Did it make that much difference? We’ll never know, of course, but it is another example of the way you sometimes have to use every tool available to succeed in the Premier League. A look at the foul count also showed that City were not averse to the odd foul to keep us down too - 17 were given against them to 11 against Leeds. It's about being smart at this level as well as having the quality. In the event, Leeds can only really be annoyed that they allowed Foden the time and space to shoot from the edge of the area with only minutes to go, and we have to chalk up another point given away to a late, needless goal. Come next May, they may be vital points we’ve given up cheaply.

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So, it goes in the record book as another defeat, but there were some encouraging signs that, if we can get the formation right for the game, and get the right players in that formation, then we can stand toe to toe with the best. We’ll get another couple of chances to experiment next week, when no doubt we’ll have to come up with some different plans to try to get the better of both Chelsea and Liverpool. When we play like this, we are not far off the mark, BUT we have to solve these defensive issues; they keep killing us!

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