Without ever getting into top gear, Manchester City go back top of the table. Many might say the victory that has taken them there was never in doubt against an Everton side that have been so supine of late, but there is still some wonder about the champions’ display; some question marks.
Was this one of those hard-fought wins that are necessary in any title win and display the required mettle in a real run-in? Or another sign of the drop-off in intensity that seems to be afflicting both of the top two right now, making their matches more unpredictable?
Time will tell. Right now though, thanks to Aymeric Laporte’s header and then Gabriel Jesus’s late header, City are ahead of Liverpool by the narrowest of margins: goal difference, having played a game more.
Another view is that the narrow margins of this game were because Everton really made City work for this. They made them fight, and show a different quality.
Maybe all of the talk about how Everton have usually lost such games – and what it would mean for Liverpool – got to them. City certainly didn’t win this easily. That also ensured it wasn’t an easy watch, something all the more ironic given it wasn’t televised in England.
Those that watched couldn’t have faulted Everton’s effort, even if the reasons they have recently been having trouble were all too evident as well.One of them is a conspicuous laxness at set-pieces. That was where they conceded the key goal again.
Everything about what City did for the goal was perfect, but the defending was not.
That meant that, after Ilkay Gundogan dummied a delivery and David Silva hit a perfect cross, Laporte was left with so much space to hit the perfect header.
Pickford had no chance, his theatrical dive making a fairly simple goal look more dramatic than it was.
It was flawless from the City side, but for the first time in the game.
They did not look at 100pc, in what was often a flat display. Gundogan and Sane had been the only two of City’s attackers to offer the necessary intensity, but both had been precise.
This is perhaps why slips are no longer going to be as costly as they would have seemed a few months ago. In the season after a World Cup, it is as if both of the top two are now suffering that extra lag from the summer, making them that bit more ponderous and easier to get at.
Before the City goal, Everton had maybe even been the better side, offering more of the attacking in the lead-up to it and some neat passing in midfield.
There had been some questions over Silva’s decision to drop Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson, but not from anyone who has watched the Portuguese’s side over the last few weeks. Their form has dropped, and the word from those close to the Goodison dressing room was that Silva would have made even more changes if he could.
It reflected Everton’s frustration that the manager rather quickly reversed that and brought Sigurdsson on for Andre Gomes, and then later on Richarlison. The Icelandic playmaker served warning he was about to shape up for one of those long shots on 70 minutes, only for John Stones to offer some of the defending that is almost underrated with Pep Guardiola sides, and step in with pristine timing.
? | The boss reacts to tonight’s defeat. #EFCMatchday pic.twitter.com/A3tfglKQ4w
— Everton (@Everton) February 6, 2019
Another master at that is Fernandinho, but he is also talented at something else: those less pristine moments that are basically cynical tactical fouls. They were a large reason for Everton’s frustration, and did do the job of stemming the play every time Silva’s side looked to change the pace.
One of the loudest sounds of the night was when the Brazilian was finally booked for one of those fouls.
That was also the sort of match it was becoming, bitty and scrappy, with errors looking likelier and likelier.
As regards those, there’s no sign of Silva changing the goalkeeper, but there are signs he isn’t quite at his best either.
Pickford is another who hasn’t been at his World Cup level. He almost gifted City another just after half-time, as a flapped cross – albeit under some pressure – saw Aguero react sharply to bicycle-kick it wide. It was one of the few moments in the match where technical quality stood out amid so much tenacious battling and tackling, until a double act between substitutes Kevin De Bruyne and Jesus. The Belgian played the fine pass, the Brazilian – eventually – offered the finish.
It gilded the performance but maybe also obscured how creditably City dug in.
That was enough for now.