De Bruyne offers Manchester City perfect plan in Haaland’s absence Manchester City

HHow to replace something that is irreplaceable? The news that Manchester City will be without Erling Haaland until the end of the month, extending his availability to two months, is a blow that would make almost any club drunk, but usually, not this one.

If it sometimes feels like Guardiola likes to set a challenging puzzle for his bright sparks, Kevin De Bruyne has almost grown weary of any navel-gazing as he plays in his first game since August Greedily filling his pockets every Premier League game. Guardiola stressed: “After five months he is not ready for 90 minutes but his head is clear.” The usually elusive playmaker ended up leaving the pitch and was greeted by hugs from players and staff and cheers, with a smile as bright as the Tyne Bridge.

Newcastle chief executive Darren Eales and Eddie Howe have spoken candidly this week about the club’s ongoing financial fair play challenges, with plenty of scaremongering over the current situation where one or two mainstays could be sacrificed. The home bench, packed with stalwarts including Matt Ritchie, Paul Dummett and two goalkeepers, had been showing signs of emptiness for some time, clearly highlighted by De Bruyne’s solitary tracksuit appearance at kick-off How far is Newcastle from Manchester City? However, success may come in the coming year.

Early on, there were some signs that Guardiola might be considering a short-term solution to his problems, notably on several occasions in the first half when Josko Gvardiol unexpectedly emerged at center forward. Yet when the game at St James’ Park begins, with the deafening music from the public address system replaced by the din of local enthusiasm, it’s rarely a place to concentrate one’s thoughts.

Newcastle remain a force of nature on their home turf, the Premier League’s finest disruptors, and they certainly destabilized the Championship early on. A strange start to the game, with Ederson recklessly trying to press on after being wiped out by Kyle Walker and almost giving the home side a goal when he limped across his own box, left an impression A fragile first impression only added fuel to the fire in Newcastle.

However, PSG, for example, found it difficult to recover from the first half of the St James spin cycle in October, while Manchester City appear to have recovered from their own tumble with a dry, crease-free and conditioned fabric. They play hard, knowing there are no shortcuts without Norway’s talisman. Gvardiol’s first moment of occasional imitation of Haaland came at the end of a particularly delightful right-to-left-to-right passing movement, with his shot blocked by the perennial forest of corpses in Newcastle’s tenacious defence. City’s opener began quickly, with Bernardo Silva’s superb strike beyond Martin Dubravka illustrating the ease with which they were in the bear pit.

However, City played high up the pitch as if they were chasing the game rather than controlling it, falling into space behind Walker twice in as many minutes, their laziness (and the space behind Kyle Walker) punished in succession. Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon also shot well. Although the origin of Isak’s equalizer was a heartbreaking challenge on Jeremy Doku from Fabian Schaal, there was never a suggestion that City were unprepared in the physical department. However, this setback undoubtedly caused them to lose the momentum to move forward.

Ederson’s mishap resulted in eight minutes of injury time and the feeling was that the visitors could have arrived at half-time not so much to regroup as to give Rodriguez a cold shower, After a conflict with an opponent, his temper broke out again. Bruno Guimarães.

Guardiola’s side regained their collective composure after the break, but this time they faced a dense and tight defence. It’s time to rethink and let someone other than coaches do it. When De Bruyne left the bench and immediately took the direct free-kick, there was silence in the stands, betraying the fear his arrival had evoked. It was a false alarm, with the Belgian’s shot hitting the wall, although the game could still have ended in a goal had Julian Alvarez not fired in the ensuing scare. The reprieve was short-lived as De Bruyne delivered the equalizer into the corner with authority.

There were few better passes imaginable, but somehow he found one for Oscar Bob’s winner, telling us that months of inactivity had fueled his imagination, a man with a passion for geometry as unlike any other on earth. Almost any football player understands the player differently. “You just hope he’s rusty and hasn’t reached full speed yet,” sighs Eddie Howe, “and then he comes on and makes it happen.” When Guardiola has a mind that can design for him, Why make life plans without Haaland?