Chaos at the Cottage – can Man City fix defensive issues?

Fulham’s nine-goal display gave Manchester City the lead in a typically title-chasing performance.

Pep Guardiola’s side’s defensive display, unfortunately, will have elicited relief from those same rivals.

Erling Haaland scored his 100th Premier League goal in the opening period of play, followed by a Phil Foden double, one from Tijjani Reijnders, and Sander Berge’s own goal, who gave City a 5-1 lead at the break. They appeared to be making a significant margin of victory.

However, Fulham responded with three unanswered goals and even had one of their own as they approached the end of one of the outstanding comebacks in stoppage time.

City held on for the win, 5-4, and all three points, almost firmly in their grasp, almost absorbing shots from the end.

“That’s football, that’s the beauty of football,” said Haaland, “but they went and made it 5-3 after I was close to scoring.”

“We love the game because of that.”

The powerful Norwegian added two assists as he scored 100 goals in 111 Premier League games, making it the fastest century since the start of the competition.

However, City changed from a team that appeared to be capable of keeping the score to a group that almost begged for the win.

Guardiola made the joke that “the players don’t respect me because I’m so old!” They are not required to behave in that manner toward their manager.

The league only allows it to occur.

The statistics show what a thriller and unusual result it was, Manchester City’s victory at Fulham will have been a great watch for the neutral.

Even though it delivered in terms of entertainment value, Guardiola’s side’s supporters must have noticed that there must be improvement if they are to truly challenge Arsenal’s leaders.

In this game, City’s attacking prowess are unquestionable; their first four attempts on target in this game resulted in goals, and Haaland and Foden’s consistent form this year will make almost any Premier League team struggle to stop them.

However, their defense is far behind, despite their play continuing to be dignified of title winners.

In the Premier League, City allowed 16 goals in just 14 games compared to Arsenal, who have only allowed seven in 13 games.

At this point in Guardiola’s six Premier League titles, it is unusual for City to concede as many as that in a title-winning campaign. It happened once, in 2023-24.

Former Premier League striker Clinton Morrison said on BBC Radio 5 Live, “You can’t expect to win the Premier League when you defend like that.”

“Manchester City’s defensive posture is a problem. We know they can score goals, but I’ve said it before, but they need to improve defensively.

In all competitions, Manchester City has conceded 10 goals in their most recent four games, but only three in the four games that followed.

Guardiola can at least believe that the recent defensive problems can be fixed, and the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach even believes that the recent back-pressure issue could benefit his side by bringing focus to their minds.

Guardiola stated, “Of course, I was concerned Fulham could come back,” but this will help us in upcoming games.

Some players believe that each game is a new team. To begin correcting, you must create a process.

The way we played in the first half, the five goals we scored, and the way we came here were some of the things that were really encouraging.