21 touches for Haaland! Winners, losers & ratings as Man City’s machine breaks down against Brentford to open the door for Arsenal

Erling Haaland:

It just wasn’t Haaland’s day. Restored to the starting XI, City’s goalscoring freak would have been hungry to make a big impact in his final game before over a month off, but he was largely anonymous. It’s difficult to criticise the Norwegian, given the gargantuan impact he’s had since joining the Premier League champions, but Brentford’s three centre-backs will go home and put their feet up in the knowledge they were rarely troubled by the 22-year-old. And you don’t say that very often when Haaland’s involved. The battling, bruising and ultimately brilliant focal point of a striker just wasn’t on show at the Etihad today. The service to him wasn’t great, granted, but Haaland wasn’t in the groove either. Unfit? Maybe. But he certainly won’t want to use that as an excuse. He had just 21 touches all game, the second lowest of all players who started the match and even fewer than both goalkeepers, Ederson and Raya. The former Dortmund forward’s afternoon was summed up perfectly when, in the first half, he lay flat on the ground bemoaning how he’d failed to grow tall enough to connect with a cross from Foden, not realising De Bruyne had swung over another delivery that may well have been on a plate for him.

Ilkay Gundogan:

Scoring is Haaland’s job, not Gundogan’s, but boy could City have done with the midfielder wearing his shooting boots today. The Germany international had at least two presentable chances in front of goal in the second half and he wasted both of them. Woefully, in fact. First, he blazed over as he struggled to sort his feet out following Haaland’s clever touch inside, before he again ballooned over the bar when well positioned in the box. Look, we’re not expecting the same numbers Gundogan managed a couple of seasons ago – that saw him score 17 in all competitions – but he really should have done a whole lot better here, and his wasteful finishing ultimately cost his side the points. The former Dortmund midfielder’s dismal afternoon was made worse when he allowed Toney to run off him to score the winner in second-half stoppage time.

The City fans:

They came to see Haaland. He did little. They certainly expected all three points. They got none. Throw in some controversial VAR calls and it was a hugely frustrating afternoon for City’s supporters. Indeed, many of the decisions could have quite easily gone their way. Rico Henry’s handball looked to be on the line, and thus a penalty, although a conclusive camera angle wasn’t available to reverse Peter Bankes’ original decision of a free-kick. De Bruyne, too, will argue he was clipped as he ran through. The Belgian was deemed to have dived, no penalty awarded. Store that one firmly in the ‘seen them given’ category. Their team remain behind Arsenal in the table, a gap that could extend to five points by the time a ball is even kicked in Qatar. City fans aren’t used to it and they won’t like it. Improvement needed in the second half of the season, especially if they’re finally going to halt their Champions League duck.