Manchester City 3-2 Leeds United Review

Premier League GW13

Late winners are always incredible moments to enjoy, but the performance in the second half, the mistakes by individual players, turned what should have been a comfortable win into a narrow one.

MOTM: PHIL FODEN

I could have just as easily gone from Jeremy Doku here, but Foden picked up the winning goal. Doku created several opportunities for others to do the same.

Notable Stats:

• Phil Foden has now scored more Premier League goals (64) than David Beckham and Yaya Toure (both 62).

• Man City's xG of 2.31 is the highest by a side in the first half of a Premier League game this season.

• Erling Haaland had fewer touches than any other player in the first half (8). But he still had more touches in the opp. box (2) than any Leeds player.

Game Stats:

Manchester City 3-2 Leeds United

• xG: 2.72 - 1.71

• xThreat: 1.91 - 0.83

• Possession: 61.1% - 38.9%

• Field Tilt: 79.2% - 20.8%

• Penalty Box Shots: 14 - 8

• Deep Entries: 19 - 8

• PPDA: 10.2 - 7.9

• High Turnovers: 4 - 4

Here are the box entries from the match: Manchester City with 20 compared to the’ 6 by Leeds. The long pass on the right side for Leeds is the one for the penalty Josko Gvardiol gave away. Long carry on the left side by DCL that didn’t lead to anything. At least from the underlying numbers, it wasn’t a team that threatened Manchester City a lot. Those two mistakes are self-inflicted, but the loss of control for big periods is something they have to manage better in the future. Neither can those individual mistakes happen again, which swung a comfortable home win away from them.

Here is the 8-game rolling average for xG and xGA for Manchester City this season, across all competitions. Still relatively stable, but the xGA and xG have increased across the previous three matches.

Nico O'Reilly (1,251) has now played more minutes this season than he did during the entire 24/25 season (1,240).

Nico Gonzalez completes his seventh consecutive start.

Bernardo Silva (1,082) has now played over 1,000 minutes for Manchester City this season.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

In the first half, Manchester City set up with the two full-backs providing width on either side, Foden and Doku moving between the lines. Silva and Reijnders, either side of Nico, to form the 2-3 buildup shape. Gnonto was stretched deep, covering Matheus Nunes. Tanaka was picking his moments to jump up and press the City midfielders.

Out of possession, Manchester City used the central press we’ve seen in recent games, with Haaland sitting on the LCB of Leeds and coming across the keeper. Either locking them over to one side or forcing a long ball. Reijnders would jump out to Rodon and Doku to Bogle. +1 kept on the backline, and Tanaka was covered by Nico Gonzalez. Keeping the spare man of Leeds (Justin) as far away as possible.

Phil Foden 1' 1-0  

Switch out to Nunes from Gvardiol. Back to Silva, Nunes runs beyond, and receives it back inside the box. Cut back to Foden, who's able to keep it down as it goes in off the crossbar. It's a simple run beyond the defensive line, from Nunes and Foden is free the whole time to find space inside the box.

Gvardiol 25' 2-0

Inswinger from Reijnders to the near-post, an area they've targeted in the last few games but struggled to find success. First contact by NOR and Gvardiol taps in the loose ball.

Manchester City created the most xG in the first half of any Premier League team in a game this season. There were more than enough chances to score; two went in, but it should have been three or four. Foden, O’Reilly, Reijnders, and Bernardo could have scored another goal. Not the same situation as Newcastle, but there was a lingering thought of needing the third goal to kill the game. Not that anyone was expecting the two mistakes from Nunes and Gvardiol.

Farke made an excellent change at half-time, which caused Manchester City a lot of problems. On top of the individual mistakes for the two goals. Bijol on for Gnonto and Calvert-Lewin for James. Leeds shifted into a 3-5-2 with now two strikers to pin Dias and Gvardiol. Three central defenders to move the ball between, they can find the spare man and play long balls quite easily, as City struggled to put pressure on the ball.

Calvert-Lewin 49’ 2-1

Immediately after half-time, Nunes gives away possession with a poor pass into Foden intercepted by Leeds. The pass is played into the box, Gvardiol keeps himself between DCL and the ball, but before he can clear it, Nunes comes across to take a touch, leaving the ball in the path of DCL to score. Initial mistake by Nunes, he rushes to fix the problem and gives away the goal. Reminiscent of last season, which he had managed to put behind him all season until now.

Nmecha 68’ 2-2

Leeds gets the equalising goal after another long ball played over the top, O’Reilly and Gvardiol let bounce into the box, and despite DCL not being in control, Gvardiol lunges in to give away a penalty. Donnarumma makes the save, but Nmecha converts the rebound.

Donnarumma going down was all about Manchester City changing their press to involve Jeremy Doku and put pressure on the ball higher up the pitch, reclaim a +1 in the backline to deal better with the long balls.

Shortly after City regain some control following the Leeds equalising goal, Cherki comes on for Reijnders (75’), and they push for the winning goal. It wasn’t until 88’ that Haaland had a chance saved from a Doku cross. For the final minutes of extra time, Marmoush comes on for Silva (89’) to add another player inside the box as City pushes Leeds deeper. Doku creates another chance with a cross, this time for Marmoush, whose header is saved (90’).

Foden 90+1' 3-2  

Manchester City packed the box with Gvardiol, NOR, and Marmoush (sub) joined Haaalnd. Run by Nunes pulled one opposition player deeper as Cherki beat Gudmundsson to get into the box. Passes inside to Foden, squares up to shoot, then moves across to the middle of the D and shoots to the far left corner.

Foden mentioned post-match that seeing the two players commit to him inside the box made his decision to take a touch away from them before getting the shot off. Gvardiols’ well-timed jump also helps to make the shot sneak past the keeper with little time to react. After that, Stones comes on for Doku (90+6’), and Manchester City can see out the remaining minutes of extra time.

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Moving Forward

Post-match, the quote by Phil Foden summed up the game very well. Lacking the right attitude in the second half, the changes Leeds made, and that in the end, you need to find a way to win.

Teams can absolutely make changes at half-time that cause you problems, but you cannot take that long to adjust to them. Something that will be a big learning moment for the younger players in the team, like Nico Gonzalez. Rodri and Gundogan make that switch on the pitch. Guardiola needed to intervene in this one and should have done so sooner.

The individual mistakes and poor attitude in the second half for winning duels are not excusable if the team is serious about competing for the Premier League title. Especially for a game you are expected to win at home. These will be tested against Fulham and Sunderland in the next two games.

That all being said, you win those two games, with the lead Arsenal having right now only five points after 13 games played. You’re well in the race. It’s a tight PL table. Although the team hasn’t played near its best for a sustained period and has had some poor defeats, only Arsenal has won more games than Manchester City this season. The next step is consistently delivering the level of performance we saw against Bournemouth and Liverpool.

I had several people quote this as if it were a poor reflection on the team as a whole this season, when instead it highlights three specific games where we lost the ground duels in the Premier League. Newcastle (A), Villa (A), and Leeds (H). As I covered in the review, the performance against Newcastle was about the chances missed more than anything else. Against Aston Villa, you had the loss of Nico Gonzalez and Nico O’Reilly. You didn’t have that excuse against Leeds. You cannot be soft in the duels, especially against the teams lower down the table.

Jeremy Doku made 3 crosses into the penalty area against Leeds United, the most he's managed in a single game since joining Manchester City. That takes him up to 7 in 13.3 90s this season. Last season, across 22.1 90s played, Doku made 8 crosses into the PA.

This isn't something Doku has been doing consistently during the season, but has shown the quality in moments. It would take his game to another level if he's able to provide these crosses more consistently, cutting inside and whipping them to the back-post. It also looks like he’s worked on his technique, getting his foot wrapped around the ball after setting them up much better with the initial touch inside.

Next up for Manchester City is Fulham (A) on the 2nd of December at 19:30 (UK). In the Premier League this season, Fulham have made the fewest high turnovers, have the most miscontrols, and conceded the second most carries into their penalty area. On the flipside, only Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal have conceded fewer shots. Evening game away from home, it’s not going to be easy, and this is an opportunity for Manchester to build some confidence in their away-from-home performances.