Manchester City control the tempo again
City spent forty-five minutes appearing to do very little and the second half explaining why. The pattern is familiar enough by now that opponents plan for it and still struggle to prevent it.
Patience as a tactic
The first half produced few clear chances by design. The intent was to move the opposition block from side to side until the distances between its lines stretched, and that took time.
The goal arrives in the sixtieth minute because of what happened in the first thirty.
The decisive spell
Once the first goal went in, the game opened in the way City's structure is built to exploit, and the second followed quickly.
