Newcastle United lost to Manchester City once again.
Their poor record against the Premier League champions continues, though Newcastle hardly disgraced themselves.
It took the return of the great Kevin De Bruyne to down Eddie Howe’s side, who had taken a quick-fire lead through goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon following Bernardo Silva’s opener.
Still, things could have been different.
City goalkeeper Ederson was injured after Sean Longstaff’s early disallowed goal but at first opted to continue. The Brazilian made a mistake while still on the field, clearing the ball into the onrushing Miguel Almiron.
Newcastle 2-3 Man City: What Miguel Almiron was shouting after Ederson’s mistake
Newcastle, however, failed to make the most of it.
The ball then fell to Gordon, who played in Bruno Guimaraes.
Rather than pass back to Almiron, the Brazilian opted to shoot but completely miss-hit it, allowing City to clear.
According to Lee Ryder of The Chronicle (on X): “Almiron was screaming for a pass just then as Bruno’s attempt at goal trickles away to safety.”
Newcastle 2-3 Man City: More Premier League heartbreak
While Newcastle were never quite as dominant here as they were against Liverpool at St James’ Park earlier this season, its another case of not quite being able to get over the line against a truly top team.
Clearly, many teams will fall victim to De Bruyne’s brilliance but chances like the one Guimaraes had simply cannot be wasted against a team of City’s quality.
Quite why he went for goal with Almiron in a better position is unclear. Obviously, a slip in technique – not something we’ve often seen from him in a black and white shirt – let him down but it was still a strange decision.
If Newcastle are going to start making statements against big teams, they need to take those chances.
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