While Sergio Agüero completed his transformation from substitute to captain, Manchester City underwent an unexpected change themselves. They went from prolific to impotent, losing their lustre and
missing the chance to go second as a four-match winning run in the Premier League came to an end.
Agüero led Manchester City for the first time under Pep Guardiola, seemingly symbolising his restoration to prominence, but his scoring sequence stopped. City had struck five times in each of their two previous home games but after the drama of recent weeks at the Etihad Stadium came a dullness that suited leaders Chelsea, their rivals for Champions League places and Stoke, who belied their wretched record against the elite with a display of defiance.
“Very, very satisfying,” said Mark Hughes, savouring a point on his return to a club that sacked him in 2009. His counterpart drew little comfort. A title challenge has dissipated on their own soil, where Everton, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Tottenham have also held City, leaving them with a worse home record than Burnley and Guardiola admitting: “Our results away are much better.” He claimed that City “fought like never before” but even an improved second-half display scarcely supported that.
Instead, on a night when his old employers, Barcelona, scored six goals, Guardiola’s current charges showed rather less incision. He lamented a lack of movement from his forwards, which suggested Agüero was not leading from the front in the manner he had hoped.
If granting the Argentinian the armband showed that Guardiola can deploy the carrot as well as the stick, it did not have the desired effect. Demoted for Gabriel Jesus recently, promoted from the ranks here, a striker with five goals in his previous three games drew a blank. His last chance was his best, when he fired a shot into the side-netting from an acute angle, but he was well policed.
Yet the clearest opportunity fell to another striker. In added time, and with Guardiola’s team committing men forward, the substitute Kelechi Iheanacho volleyed wide. The chance was fashioned by Kevin De Bruyne, who provided a stream of inviting centres after he was moved to the right flank. His predecessor in that position was part of the problem as City were uncharacteristically flat. The problem was less that Jesús Navas extended a 1146-day wait for a league goal than that his crossing was typically wretched.
He was a surprise starter as Guardiola opted to rotate before supposedly bigger matches. “When you have one game a week, you can play with [the same] 11 players, no problem,” said the manager. His decisions backfired, however, with his side missing the energy of the rested Raheem Sterling. The importance of David Silva, who enlivened the evening in his cameo, was also illustrated. “We weren’t too upset when he wasn’t in the starting lineup,” said Hughes. “You saw his influence when he came on.”
Suddenly, Manchester City became more coherent. Silva threatened to unlock Stoke, playing a deft one-two with Fernandinho, but his effort rolled agonisingly wide. He also took the corner that Nicolás Otamendi headed on to the roof of the net. Yet the damning reality was that a team closing in on a century of goals this season mustered a solitary shot on target. That came from the other centre-back and Lee Grant answered Aleksandar Kolarov’s free-kick with a firm parry. “The goalkeeper did not save too much,” Guardiola accepted.
Stoke mustered only two efforts on target themselves, neither especially threatening. They have still scored only one goal at the Etihad Stadium, Mame Biram Diouf’s 2014 winner. History briefly threatened to repeat itself when the sliding Senegalese met Erik Pieters’ sixth-minute cross but Willy Caballero pushed his shot away.
The Argentinian also saved from Bruno Martins Indi, a Dutchman who distinguished himself more with his defending. Where Monaco and Huddersfield were overwhelmed by incessant attacking here, Stoke brought a blend of organisation and determination.
They had the wrong sort of 100% record against the current top four, conceding four goals in each previous meeting. A thrashing at Tottenham had stung and this was a fine riposte. “It hurt us. We needed to answer a few questions and hopefully we have done,” added Hughes. He singled out Saido Berahino for praise, partly for the way the £15m forward defended from the front on his first start for the club, but his side showed a collective resolve.
Manchester City, too, have meetings with the best on their minds. Their next three league games pit them against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. If this was an opportunity to apply a little pressure to Antonio Conte’s team, it passed them by. “The gap was big,” Guardiola rued. “And it is still big.”