Tim Ream equalized shortly after Julian Alvarez’s opening goal.
Nathan Ake, a defender, scored a contentious header that infuriated Fulham supporters.
The week that Erling Haaland won UEFA’s Player of the Season award, he scored three goals.
The current state of Manchester City does not necessitate assistance.
In spite of this, nobody is better at taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves.
Even under the best circumstances, facing the treble winners at The Etihad presents challenges.
Furthermore, Fulham is not having the best of times right now.
Joao Palhinha, who had spent Friday night in Munich posing in a Bayern Munich uniform before his desired move fell through, was already absent, and he was their best player. He was obviously unavailable, and a master motivator will now be needed to help him get his bearings for the arduous months leading up to January.
As a result, the task was already unenviable before Fulham’s captain Tom Cairney, who was essential to their game plan, hobbled off after 16 minutes.
Despite having neutralized City and newly acquired Jeremy Doku, they conceded after 31 minutes.
They were able to gain their usual foothold in the game thanks to Mateo Kovacic’s through ball and Erling Haaland’s run and assist for Julian Alvarez, even though it appeared to be a shot that went wrong.
Erling Haaland shone for Manchester City with his first hat-trick of the year, increasing his league total to six.
With his first hat-trick of the year and six league goals already, Erling Haaland shone for Manchester City.
With 31 minutes remaining at the Etihad, Julian Alvarez opened the scoring in his third straight home game.
With 31 minutes remaining in the game at the Etihad, Julian Alvarez opened the scoring for the third consecutive home game.
In the week that he was named UEFA’s Player of the Season for his accomplishments the previous season, Haaland scored a hat-trick in the second half.
In the week before being named UEFA’s Player of the Season for his achievements last season, Haaland scored a hat-trick in the second half.
Fulham, however, did not give up even at that point and quickly equalized the score.
Tim Ream was waiting at the far post when Raul Jimenez touched Andreas Pereira’s corner onto Bobby De Cordova-Reid, whose shot was saved by Ederson but spun into his path.
Ream dutifully touched the ball in from three yards out for a 1-1 score.
But mid-table teams to Manchester City are like flies to wanton boys: they kill them for sport.
And if the refereeing gods share the same viewpoint, there is really no hope.
Fulham and Marco Silva will feel that way about the game’s pivotal moment.
They essentially came out of the first half unscathed, and they even performed a disciplined tactical display that caused City some minor discomfort.
Then, they encountered the harshest part of the rulebook.
When Phil Foden swung in a corner in the fifth minute of stoppage time of the first half, Nathan Ake met it forcefully and put it in the bottom corner for 2-1.
However, Manuel Akanji was positioned two yards offside in front of goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
He feinted—possibly to move out of the way—and stuck out a leg—possibly just after the ball had passed him.
Nevertheless, he was a huge, clumsy presence right in the keeper’s line of sight.
It’s difficult for people of a certain generation to forget Bill Shankly’s opinion.
Leno asked, “If a player isn’t interfering with play, what the bloody hell is he doing on the field?” It seemed blatantly unfair that he had to wait to see whether Akanji, who was obviously offside, moved before committing.
In general, the rules should favor attacking sides.
This, however, defied logic.
Silva and the Fulham players most definitely agreed. Michael Oliver, the referee, conferred with his assistant but decided to award the goal.
He was not given the opportunity to view the incident because VAR Tony Harrington did not detect a clear error.
The helpful video screen operator replayed the goal, and when Fulham went crazy and begged Oliver to take a position—which, of course, by this point he couldn’t—the majority of the rest of the Etihad did.
The prolific Norwegian scorer made up for his 12-yard miss against Sheffield United by sending Bernd Leno the wrong way.
The prolific scorer from Norway sent Bernd Leno the wrong way to make up for his 12-yard miss against Sheffield United the last time around.
After City took the lead just before halftime on Nathan Ake’s goal and a protracted VAR review that favored City, Marco Silva was visibly furious.
Before the half, Nathan Ake’s goal gave City the lead, and a protracted VAR review that City won left Marco Silva fuming.
Tim Ream, a defender for the west London team, quickly equalized, but it was still a discouraging day at the office.
Tim Ream, a defender for the west London team, quickly equalized, but it was still a discouraging day at the office.
Harry Wilson was replaced in attack for the final 10 minutes of the game by Adama Traore, who made a late cameo appearance.
Harry Wilson was replaced in attack for the final 10 minutes of the game by Adama Traore, who made a late appearance off the bench.
Juanma Lillo was able to give some minutes to several kids, including Oscar Bobb, because City was in a dominant position.
Juanma Lillo was able to give some minutes to a number of kids, including Oscar Bobb, because City was in a dominant position.
MATCH THE FACTS.
MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Ake; Rodri (Silva 76′), Kovacic (Phillips 84′); Doku (Gómez 76′), lvarez (Lewis 90′), Foden (Bobb 90′); Haaland.
Ortega, Gvardiol, Nunes, and Carson as substitutes.
Alvarez (31′), Ake (45+5′), Haaland (58), 70′ (P), and 90+5′ all scored goals.
Rodri and Silva have been scheduled.
Juanma Lillo, manager.
Leno; Tete, Diop, Ream, Robinson; Pereira, Reed, Cairney (Harris 16′); Wilson (Traoré 81′), Jiménez (Carvalho 81′), and De Cordova-Reid (Willian 73′); are the members of the FULHAM (4-3-3) lineup.
To replace: Rodak, Bassey, Vincent, and Francois.
Objective: 33′.
Diop, Robinson, Pereira, and Cordova-Reid have reservations.
Marco Silva is the manager.
Michael Oliver serves as referee.
5899 people were present.
Because Fulham was so animated, there was a moment when it appeared as though the game would never end. When it did, Fulham assistant Luis Boa Morte twice rolled a second ball onto the field to delay it further in the hopes that a sliver of time would be granted.
If you’re Fulham, those breaks make life almost unbearably difficult.
The second half was entirely predictable after that. On the 58th minute, Leno stretched in vain to stop the strike after Rodri played a through ball that Alvarez intercepted and Ream deflected into Erling Haaland’s path.
A Haaland penalty for the fourth will only have heightened Fulham’s sense of injustice. Issa Diop, who was on the wrong side of Alvarez as he was doing his trademark sprinting and darting, panicked and shoved.
Haaland was given the penalty, took it, and scored—he also doesn’t require any additional assistance.
Fulham is a sorry state.
Only a little over a year after his arrival, Sergio Gomez used the final seconds of injury time to dash down the left, turn his defender inside out, and pull back for Haaland to score his seventh City hat-trick.
Even though the records will indicate a score of 5-1, that only tells part of the story.
Ream scored as a result of Fulham’s good tactical work in the first half, which was making City uncomfortable.Ream scored the reward for Fulham’s tactical efforts in the first half, which were making City uncomfortable.
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