Manchester City had 72 per cent of possession, 13 shots, 13 corners and missed two penalties against Everton. Usually that kind of dominance gets you three points, but two excellent saves from the spot by Maarten Stekelenburg and a little bit of luck saw Everton emerge on Saturday with a 1-1 draw. The result means City are now winless in three games in all competitions.
For their title rivals who were left desperately looking for a chink in City’s armour following a spectacular start to the season, one has appeared.
Defensive weakness has contributed in a big way to each of their three recent poor results. City could not contain Celtic’s pace in the Uefa Champions League in a 3-3 draw last month; Tottenham Hotspur were able to cut right through the heart of the defence in a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane. On Saturday, Romelu Lukaku simply brushed aside Gael Clichy, who was playing as a third centre-back, on his way to a sensational Everton goal.
• Richard Jolly: Frustration for Manchester City as Stekelenburg shines in front of Everton goal
Pep Guardiola has been showered in praise for his instant impact at City and he may be the best manager in football. But does he have a blind spot?
Has he underestimated the Premier League? It appears Guardiola isn't too bothered who plays in his defence as his sides are going to dominate possession anyway.
It was a fine tactic in Spain, when he would regularly play midfielders at the back with Barcelona, and in Germany at all-conquering Bayern Munich.
But Guardiola’s experiments, such as playing left-back Aleksandar Kolarov as a centre-back or the 1.79-metre-tall Clichy in a back three, hasn’t completely worked.
It is the one area of his team where Guardiola is yet to find a solution. It is almost a given that at some point he will stick midfielders Fernandinho or Fernando in his backline, as he did with Javier Mascherano in Spain.
Guardiola has reinvented the wheel when it comes to formations and ideology in football, but maybe he has come across one area of the pitch where he needs to revert to more traditional thinking and play centre-backs and full-backs in the positions they are comfortable with.
City have kept one clean sheet in the league so far. For the sake of the title race, let us hope they continue to be shaky at the back. It levels the laying field.
Jordan Ibe coming good for Bournemouth
Jordan Ibe arrived at Bournemouth as their £15 million (Dh67m) record signing in the summer with bags of potential. The 20-year-old former Liverpool winger is touted as Raheem Sterling Mark II, only faster, stronger and more productive.
His opening games for Bournemouth underwhelmed, but it appears all he needed was a bit of time to get used to playing in manager Eddie Howe’s system.
Ibe was sensational in his side’s 6-1 defeat of Hull City, the star man of a game in which every player was in top form.
He exhibited all of his assets: explosive pace, close control, dribbling. He drove the Hull defence backwards every time he ran with the ball and turned both full-backs inside and out.
If Ibe continues in this vein, Bournemouth will be a tough side to contain and an England call-up is not out of the question.
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