Jair Cunha was supposed to be defending Nottingham Forest’s goal. Six minutes into their match against Manchester City, the centre-back was doing something very different.
He stepped forward to challenge Joško Gvardiol, took the ball away from him and drove into the penalty area. There was no need to find a teammate. Cunha finished the move himself, beating Gianluigi Donnarumma and putting Forest ahead.
It was Forest’s first home Premier League goal of the season. For City, it was the beginning of another difficult afternoon.
By the 18th minute, Liam Delap had doubled the lead. Rayan Cherki eventually pulled one back, but Delap struck again to secure a 3–1 victory for Oliver Glasner’s side.
Manchester City had now lost three consecutive Premier League matches after winning their opening seven. More troublingly, they had conceded inside the first 11 minutes in every one of those defeats.
The pattern was impossible to ignore. Yet when you look at how Aston Villa, Brighton and Forest actually scored, the story becomes more complicated.
City kept falling behind early. Their opponents weren’t doing it the same way.
Three early goals, three different mistakes
The trouble began at Villa Park on 24 October.
City arrived with seven league wins behind them, but their unbeaten start lasted only six minutes longer.
Rúben Dias chipped a pass towards Marc Guéhi. It should have been a manageable ball for the defender. Instead, Guéhi miscontrolled it, the ball struck his standing leg and John McGinn reacted immediately.
McGinn collected possession and found Nicolas Jackson, who moved inside Elliot Anderson before finishing.
Villa deserved credit for turning the mistake into a goal so quickly. But Opta’s account included an important detail: Guéhi had not been under direct pressure when he failed to control the pass.
That matters because it changes the explanation. Villa’s aggressive approach was part of the match, but the immediate cause of the goal was a poor touch, not an opponent forcing Guéhi into an impossible decision.
Erling Haaland equalised after half-time, only for Jackson to score again. Villa won 2–1, ending City’s perfect league start.
Seven days later, Brighton came to the Etihad Stadium.
Once again, City were behind before the match had properly settled. This time, the goal came in the 11th minute.
Lewis Dunk took a quick free-kick towards Diego Gómez on the right. Gómez delivered a low cross into the penalty area, where Matheus Nunes had a chance to clear.
He missed the ball.
Maxim De Cuyper helped it on to Yasin Ayari, who finished from close range. Brighton protected their advantage and won 1–0.
It was another avoidable goal, but not a repeat of what had happened at Villa Park.
Guéhi had made a mistake while City were trying to retain possession. Nunes had failed to clear a delivery after Brighton restarted play quickly.
Then Forest exposed Gvardiol with an aggressive challenge high up the pitch.
Three opponents had found three different routes to the opening goal. Calling them all evidence of the same broken defensive system would overlook the actions that actually decided each incident.
And the Forest match still had more to reveal.
Forest didn’t stop at the first mistake
Cunha’s opener was impressive, but Forest’s second goal showed how quickly City could be hurt after losing a contest in midfield.
In the 18th minute, Xaver Schlager beat Anderson to the ball and released Delap. The former City forward attacked the available space and finished emphatically.
Glasner had made only two changes to his starting lineup, including bringing captain Ryan Yates back for his first start of the season. Forest approached the match with aggression and a willingness to contest possession. Their first two goals rewarded that approach.
City still created chances.
Before half-time, Haaland rounded goalkeeper Matz Sels and looked capable of scoring, only for Cunha to recover and clear the effort off the line.
At the interval, Maresca replaced Guéhi and Gvardiol with Nunes and Nico O’Reilly. Given what had happened to City’s defence, it would have been easy to interpret the changes as a tactical punishment.
Maresca’s explanation after the match was different. Both defenders had reported physical problems and asked to come off.
Their substitutions therefore told us more about City’s immediate personnel problems than about a manager abandoning his defensive choices.
Seven minutes into the second half, Cherki gave City hope with a fine strike from distance. At 2–1, the visitors were back in contention.
Forest had to withstand pressure, and Haaland went close again. But City couldn’t find the equaliser.
Instead, another attack developed after Forest won possession. Morgan Gibbs-White released Delap, who drove forward and finished beyond Donnarumma.
The third goal settled the match.
Afterwards, Maresca highlighted something important about Forest’s second and third goals. In both situations, City lost key contests for the ball and then struggled to defend the transition that followed.
This was a more useful comparison than simply placing the three early league goals beside one another.
Forest had punished City for losing duels, then attacked the space available before the visitors could recover their positions.
City finished with 78% possession. Forest had only 22%, according to Sky Sports, but they used their opportunities far more effectively.
That was also a significant development for Glasner.
In their previous defeat to Brentford, Forest had taken 15 shots and managed just one on target. Against City, five of their 11 efforts tested Donnarumma, and three went in.
Glasner had been demanding a more effective attacking performance. His players delivered one against formidable opposition.
Whether they can repeat that efficiency remains open. What they achieved on Saturday, however, deserves recognition.
What should Maresca actually change?
Manchester City’s first concern is straightforward: three league opponents have taken early leads against them, forcing a team built to control possession into situations where it must chase the result.
But the solution is unlikely to be as simple as replacing a defender or changing the formation.
At Villa Park, Guéhi needed to execute a routine touch more cleanly. Against Brighton, City needed to react to a quick restart and complete a clearance inside their penalty area.
Those are different situations requiring different responses.
Forest’s opener raises another question. When Cunha stepped forward to press Gvardiol, what passing options did City have around the defender? Could a midfielder have offered him a safer route out? And who was positioned to protect the centre if possession was lost?
The available reports establish Cunha’s successful challenge, but not every off-ball movement leading up to it. A full examination of the sequence is necessary before assigning responsibility to City’s wider structure.
If the footage shows that Gvardiol lacked nearby support, Maresca could consider asking the nearest midfielder to drop closer during that phase of build-up, while another player remains ready to protect against a turnover.
That would provide an additional passing option. It would also take someone away from a more advanced position, potentially allowing the opposition to press the remaining outlets more aggressively.
It’s an adjustment worth examining, not a guaranteed solution.
And it would do little to explain Guéhi’s unpressured error at Villa Park or Nunes missing the cross against Brighton.
Maresca needs to establish where his players are being placed in difficult situations and where they are simply failing to perform actions they should be capable of completing.
The difference determines whether the next answer belongs on the training ground, in the tactical plan or in the selection of individual players.
MATCHIQ’s earlier reviews of the Villa and Brighton defeats made that distinction. Neither match, by itself, established a single defensive weakness running through City’s entire system.
Forest has made the investigation more urgent.
Their second and third goals point to the importance of how City defend after losing possession, particularly when the opposition can advance before the midfield and defence have recovered.
But the evidence still doesn’t justify pretending that every early goal came from one tactical defect.
City’s attack hasn’t disappeared, either. They created opportunities against Villa and Brighton and came close to recovering against Forest.
The problem is that those attacking efforts are repeatedly being asked to repair damage done much earlier.
When Fulham visit the Etihad on 21 November, Maresca will have another opportunity to examine how City begin games, respond to pressure and protect themselves after losing the ball.
The answer to the three early goals is already clearer.
Villa punished a poor first touch. Brighton punished a failed clearance. Forest punished an aggressive press and later exposed City’s transition defending.
Manchester City haven’t been beaten by one identical mistake three times. They’ve given opponents several different ways to put them in trouble.
For Maresca, identifying those differences is the first step towards stopping them.
Sources and related research
Match sources
- Premier League — 7 November match review
- Opta — Aston Villa vs Manchester City, 24 October
- Opta — Manchester City vs Brighton, 31 October
- Manchester City — Nottingham Forest vs City, 7 November
- Sky Sports — Nottingham Forest 3–1 Manchester City
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