Nottingham Forest 0-2 Man City: Post-match reaction

Michael Plant shares his reaction after Manchester City's Premier League victory at the City Ground.

Transcript

00:00 Nottingham Forest 0 Man City 2 was the scoreline here at the city ground. A performance that

00:05 I don't think the visitors will be massively happy with in terms of how they played, the

00:09 number of chances they created and in terms of how Pep Guardiola likes his team to control

00:13 the flow and pattern of play. But ultimately a vital 3 point in the title race that means

00:18 that we are basically as we started the day, City a point behind Arsenal who had a difficult

00:23 afternoon in the North London Derby. Didn't look like it was going to be that way at half

00:27 time but ultimately a difficult 3-2 win for them. City came here, Pep Guardiola said it

00:32 was going to be a difficult match for a number of reasons, the fitness, the atmosphere the

00:35 city were going to face and it is exactly what they faced today at the city ground.

00:41 It was a performance the city felt like they just never really got going in total honesty.

00:45 A number of individual performances that I think Guardiola will be disappointed with.

00:48 Ederson flapped at a couple of crosses, he actually came off at half time with a knock.

00:52 Kyle Walker wasn't at it as well, he was seriously beaten by Ola Aina down the left

00:59 for Forrest. I thought Don't Koo wasn't great either, Jack Grealish not really at it, Rodri

01:03 didn't have the same level of control. Even Kevin De Bruyne for long spells I thought

01:06 frustrated but ultimately City did what they do at this stage of the season which is got

01:11 the goals, got the win and ultimately still keep pace with Arsenal at the top of the table.

01:16 It was Josco Guardiola who got the first half goal, a lovely header at the front post from

01:20 him from Kevin De Bruyne at the corner. I thought Guardiola played really well and actually

01:24 that's his third goal now for Manchester City. Prior to April, the start of the month, he

01:28 hadn't actually scored at all so he's got three goals this month starting from zero.

01:32 But City at that stage have not played brilliantly for the first half and are, you thought they

01:36 were maybe going to push on a bit more of onus of the game, a little bit more fluidity

01:41 with their play but that wasn't the case and actually Forrest had three really good chances,

01:45 two at the end of the first half. Chris Wood completely miscued a shot, didn't connect

01:48 with the ball. Murillo as well had a chance at the back post, didn't manage to connect

01:53 properly with the ball either, hit the post with his shot and then the start of the second

01:57 half, Wood did connect with his shot but again not a particularly firm shot and Guardiola

02:01 managed to get back and clear it off the line. Forrest came back to root those chances really

02:05 for all as well Forrest played and they were buoyed up by this, I think a crowd that feel

02:09 very aggrieved for things that aren't going in their favour, certainly as they see it

02:12 anyway at the moment. But they didn't actually in the end create all that many clear cut

02:15 chances after that Wood chance and it was City who did manage to get the second goal

02:20 of the afternoon. Kevin De Bruyne got on the ball, slipped it to Erling Haaland who shaped

02:24 up Murillo. I think he thought he was going to go on his left foot, Murillo thought Haaland

02:28 was going to go on his left foot, just shaped onto his right foot and passed into the bottom

02:31 corner. I mean Erling Haaland scores a lot of different goals for Manchester City but

02:34 you feel like that's pretty close to a trademark typical Erling Haaland finish. But City from

02:40 that point on not a huge amount happened, they weren't really tested, didn't have to

02:43 do a huge amount and they held on for a relatively comfortable 2-0 scoreline in the end. I think

02:47 Guardiola will be disappointed with the performance but he'll know at this stage all that matters

02:50 is the points for his side.