Man City 3-1 Chelsea (Gvardiol 42’, Haaland 68’, Foden 87′ | Madueke 3’)
ETIHAD – Fresh off the plane from a Washington inauguration Gianni Infantino has seen his fair share of car crashes this week. Even Fifa’s unflappable pantomime villain must have felt a twinge of sympathy as he sat in attendance for this one.
As far as first touches in the Premier League go, Abdukodir Khusanov’s was about as mortifying as they come. It is to his immense credit that after the error which led to Chelsea’s opener, he eventually recovered his composure and made some crucial interventions.
The opening four minutes of the promising 20-year-old’s Manchester City career induced such a collective wince that as one, the Etihad took to warmly applauding the most basic short passes he completed to Ederson. A heartening attempt to raise his spirits. It might well have had the opposite effect.
First beaten in the air and then heading the ball into the path of Nicolas Jackson, who flicked it to goalscorer Noni Madueke, there was none of the bravado about the young Uzbek that City have embodied in this most wretched of seasons. The expression, one of genuine horror. It does not get much worse.
Except it did, and almost immediately he had overthought his pass and wandered sheepishly back into the mouth of the wolf. The touch felt too cute – he will learn quickly in English football that it is rarely a clever idea to pass into the path of an insurgent Cole Palmer. All that remained was for him to career into his opponent and earn himself a booking.
There is no doubting Khusanov’s abilities, City having fought off interest from Newcastle, PSG, and Atletico Madrid to sign him.
He rocked up alongside Omar Marmoush and Vitor Reis not only to strengthen a squad decimated by injury – much like Erling Haaland’s decade-long new contract, these transfers were as much about giving two-fingers to the Premier League as finding a quick fix to their perishing reputation. That is how desperate City are to prove it is business as usual.
The assumption was that new trio were a triumph of forward-planning, but so bare have City been left that Pep Guardiola had little choice but to thrust Khusanov into the spotlight on a momentous occasion. The fact that he initially sank rather than swam is not his fault.
But that is the callous new reality of a faltering set-up, less and less resembling the empire Pep built despite a statement victory here.
City have always been famed for their proactive recruitment. Where Chelsea have sprayed increasingly expensive perfume to mask the decay, their Mancunian rivals should be one step ahead.
But when the story of their decline is written many fingers will point towards the boardroom, who did not appear to see it coming. That is how Khusanov, one for the future, was thrust so abruptly into the here and now.
Marmoush definitely looks the part, his gravest error his pounce on Gundogan’s shot to drive it into the net when he should have left it for Phil Foden – the flag shot up.
Better still to leave hope of a City equaliser to Marc Cucurella, shrugged off in a foot race with Matheus Nunes; Robert Sanchez’s stop rebounded to Josko Gvardiol, who had been allowed to run off Madueke too easily, to slot into an empty goal.
Haaland would later revel in the same luxury, albeit from a far greater distance, spotting Sanchez off his line and pinging it in, one bounce only. He really can do it all, holding the ball up by the halfway line before playing on Foden for the third.
Nobody really believes City have really lost their fear factor, whatever Pep says – Levi Colwill took a yellow card for time-wasting on the chin after just 25 minutes. Nor that they have entirely forgotten “who we are” and “don’t have a squad”, some other highlights from this campaign’s litany of hyperboles.
There is just no longer time for the cogs of the champions’ succession plan to turn as slickly as they once did. Before kick-off tributes were paid to departed heroes Denis Law and Tony Book, a poignant reminder of the way the great legacies intertwine with present glories at a club unrecognisable from what it once was.
Exactly how bright the future can be depends not only on the outcome of those 115 charges but on how players like Khusanov are handled.
There was a distinct wobble of his lip as he was substituted seven minutes into the second half, replaced by John Stones – a man so central to the link-up between back line and midfield, with no real ankle-crunchers in either, that City cannot afford to be without him again.
Kindly, City’s producers had already compiled his best bits to project onto the big screens, including the moment he brushed Jackson off in a tussle. Guardiola greeted him with a cuddle.
Another ovation from his new fan club followed. It briefly restored faith in humanity but he was put in an unenviable position in the first place, replacing Ruben Dias for a game of his magnitude.
Just as well that neither of these sides are serious title contenders, or it might have cut even deeper.
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