6 days ago
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Manchester City found their reliance on Erling Haaland came to their cost at Aston Villa on Sunday as they were beaten 1-0.
Tijjani Reijnders scored with his first shot of the season for Manchester City but the Dutchman's luck in front of goal since then sums up the misfiring nature of the Blues' attackers.
The 27-year-old took his goal at Wolves in mid-August superbly and having scored a career-best 15 for AC Milan last season, he looked ready to deliver similar numbers for his new club after a £46.3million move to the Etihad.
But Reijnders has now had 26 shots without scoring and he fired a blank again at Villa Park. Although fielded in a deeper midfield role, he had two chances, sending one over the crossbar and the other wide of the post.
So with Aston Villa's defenders doing a superb job on Erling Haaland, and none of City's other attacking outlets able to come to the party, it meant the end of a nine-game unbeaten run and saw a six-point gap open up to Premier League leaders Arsenal.
If City are to chase down Mikel Arteta's side it will need someone other than Haaland to start scoring on a regular basis. The Norwegian has 15 goals this season, but the second-best top scorer is Phil Foden with two and Reijnders is one of six players to have scored just a single goal.
As good as Haaland has been, that is an unflattering statistic for the rest of the squad and Reijnders is well aware that he needs to take more responsibility in front of goal, although his belief that his numbers will improve hasn't wavered.
"We need more goals from other players, including me," he said. "We all want to score and we arrive in good moments but the ball doesn’t want to go in sometimes. It will be fine, I’m pretty sure about that.
"It will come as long as I come in those positions. I’ve been a bit unlucky but I have trust that it will come."
City's unbeaten run had propelled them into the title race and put them in a good position to reach the Champions League knockout stages, but this defeat was a setback for a team that had been building momentum.
Pep Guardiola had been keeping his counsel about City's ability to stay the pace at the top of the league and it is still a new developing team at the Etihad, although Reijnders rejects the idea they might find consistency hard to come by.
"I don’t think it’s the inconsistency," he said. "The streak we set is pretty long. But we know this game we weren’t at our best and we can do much better. We have to be ready again for Wednesday and next week."
Reijnders echoed captain Bernardo Silva's assessment that City weren't aggressive enough against Villa, particularly in the first half, but despite seeing a gap open up at the top to the Gunners, he is still confident in their ability to shut it down.
"It’s a long journey this league and we have plenty of games. We have to keep working and keep fighting for the Premier League," he said.
"There are a lot of games coming. Six points, we can close that gap of course, as long as we focus on ourselves I have a lot of trust in that."
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