Everton draws 1-1 with Man City as Aguero and De Bruyne miss penalties

There were two disciples from Johan Cruyff's Barcelona dream team on display at The Etihad.

Pep Guardiola used to share a room with Ronald Koeman, when one was the big-money, foreign signing and the other a scrawny Catalan teenage kid straight out of the third team.

'Teach him what you know,' Cruyff told Koeman. And so began an education, Guardiola peppering Koeman with questions about Ajax, Total Football and the Cruyff way.

And more than twenty years on, the teachings of the master appear to have developed divergent paths. Only one of the disciples has kept to the straight and narrow. The other seemed to have gone somewhat heretical, questioning the very need for possession.

You might argue, that Guardiola has been blessed with greater resources, better players and lives cocooned in a world where it's easy to keep the faith. Koeman's path has been, relatively, rockier; he has had to make Faustian pacts along the way and compromise his beliefs in accordance with the realities of the world.

For all that, Koeman is not normally a man who eschews possession; he appreciates a slick build up as much as the next man. But he combines it with a streak of pragmatism. And yesterday was just such an occasion.

At times, especially it the first half, it appeared as though Manchester City might bust the possession statistics and take them beyond one hundred per cent. 

They were that dominant; or rather, Koeman, was that confident in his team's ability to withstand City's passing that his players made next to no attempt to circumnavigate it.

Having suggested in the build up to this game that the Premier League was one the only place where teams would take on Guardiola and attack him, Koeman proceeded to the very opposite. Where Celtic and Tottenham opted to engage on Guardiola's terms, Koeman refused the challenge. 

Dropping Ross Barkley for Tom Cleverley was a signal of intent. This team were built to withstand rather than create. True, City did without Sergio Aguero for much of the game, with one eye on Barcelona next week. But they were still a side built to pass, move and score.

This was rope-a-dope for football. How smooth City looked; how delightful were their passes; and how magisterial did those possession statistics look. 

Much good it did then when faced with the long ball from defence and the flick from Yannick Bolasie which left Romelu Luaku bearing down on goal with Gael Clichy to beat on 64 minutes.

Even from here was still much to do, but those who felt City's weaknesses at the back would eventually cost them, not least when playing an open back three as they did yesterday, would have felt vindicated as Clichy was brushed aside and Lukaku finished decisively in the far corner, his ninth goal in seven games, counting his international appearances.

It was the equivalent of a Richard Dawkins tract being read aloud at Westminster Abbey; it wasn't just an attack on Cruyff and Guardiola; it was the very antitheses of what Roberto Martinez, another disciple, came to represent at Everton. Koeman under-whelmed and over-delivered yesterday, whereas Martinez tended to do the opposite. 

In truth, Koeman got away with it at times. The performance from Maarten Stekelenburg was exceptional, saving two penalties and making two other outstanding second-half saves. On another day, Guardiola's creed might have been utterly vindicated. 

And you always felt eventually the sheer weight of pressure would produce something. 

Even if Leroy Sane's lame 10th-minute penalty shout clearly wasn't the moment, the sight of David Silva wriggling his way through a forest of Everton's arms and legs on 44 minutes must have made Koeman queasy.

It was a grounded Phil Jagielka who finally stuck out the leg which floored him and the penalty was awarded. Yet, though Kevin De Bruyne struck firmly, he was also too close to the keeper and at the right height for Stekelenburg to parry away.

The second half started better, however, for Koeman. Gerard Deulofeu cut inside Clichy and shot just over. The warning had been delivered. City, for all their elegance, were rarely creating clear chances. 

There was a Kelechi Iheanacho flick from a Leroy Sane cross on 52 minutes which Stekenlenburg saved, so City reached for Sergio Aguero on 56 minutes, a clear sign that faith was wavering.

But there wasn't enough to shake Everton fom their game plan, which reached its zenith with that Lukaku strike on 64 minutes.

Such a challenge invited a response; a counter reformation if you like. It seemed it would come quickly when Jagielka, once again the culprit, hacked at Aguero in the box on 69 minutes. This time the Argentine stepped up to take the penalty, but the result was the same, Stekenlenburg diving to his left to parry away.

The Dutchman was truly inspired. A minute later he touched away a curling shot from Aguero. His goal seemed to have divine protection.

Eventually, though, they could not hold back the tide. Nolito had only just arrived on the pitch when he met a David Silva cross to head home the equaliser on 72 minutes. De Bruyne might have won the argument on 82 minutes, his deflected shot heading for the corner until Stekelenburg quite brilliantly plucked it form the air and tipped it wide. As it was, points were shared and the meaning of football life remained unresolved. Daily Mail

 

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