Haaland steers Manchester City past Nottingham Forest despite Rodri red

It all seemed so sedate for Manchester City against Nottingham Forest. They were two goals ahead and Rodri, the man who makes them tick in midfield, was his cerebral self until he erupted with anger to get sent off for violent conduct within 60 seconds of the second half beginning.

City had one less player for nearly an entire half but the result was never in doubt thanks to goals from Phil Foden and Erling Haaland. It will, however, leave Pep Guardiola to ponder the cost of losing Rodri for the next three matches, including a trip to Arsenal.

Steve Cooper had set his team up with a flat back five behind four midfielders to try to stop the hosts scoring and they did not come close to answering the main questions posed by City’s domination of possession. There were 46 passes in the buildup to the opener, the second-most before a goal since records began in 2005.

Despite the fact there were always 10 men behind the ball, Forest’s attempts at resistance were beyond futile. Smart play between Foden and Matheus Nunes allowed the Portuguese to chip the ball to the back post for an unmarked Haaland to head home his seventh league goal of the campaign. Considering Forest had three centre-backs on the pitch to leave Haaland by himself was unforgivable, but the team as a whole could not cope with City’s speed and movement. The classic battle of blue against red gave the impression of a Subbuteo match, aided by the static nature of the Forest defence.

There was a sense of complacency within the City ranks after the second went in. Sloppy mistakes were made, much to Guardiola’s annoyance.

To make up for the slack nature of the final stages of the first half, City came out fired up, none more so than Rodri who was soon back in the dressing room after being sent off for an altercation with Morgan Gibbs-White. There was some pushing, shoving and head-to-head action, ending in mild farce when Gibbs-White threw himself to the ground after being grabbed around the neck. Anthony Taylor deemed it worthy of a sending off and VAR saw no reason to disagree after a lengthy review.

Cooper decided Forest could take advantage of having an extra man, throwing on the pace of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga. City brought on Nathan Aké to become the team with a back five as the tables turned. The red mist continued as Ederson and Awoniyi clashed inside the penalty area, although the cards were yellow for each on this occasion. The stadium had felt calm in the first half but the fans found their voice after the break, further enthused by Guardiola’s demands for noise to help his 10 men. Even City’s kitman got a round of applause for delivering a message to Ederson.