Chaos over control at the Etihad

Manchester City's captivating but chaotic 5-3 win over Sunderland could not have been further removed from the picture of control so often associated with City under Pep Guardiola.

"We want to control but the other team don't want to allow us," Enzo Maresca reflected. Sunderland made command of the game very difficult, but City equally did themselves no favours. Maresca had warned of the size of the task pre-match - and so it proved.

"I knew how good they are, off the ball very aggressive," he added, after the Black Cats terrorised the Etihad. Rarely have City conceded so much territory or given up so many chances at home, nor do they often ship three goals. Why were they so open?

Brobbey's masterclass

Brian Brobbey served up another masterclass in hold-up play, just as he did against Arsenal last week - except on this occasion he matched his physical presence with three excellent goals.

Every time Brobbey won his duel against Ruben Dias - which was often - there was space to play off. He was joined in waves of attack by Enzo Le Fee, before Nilson Angulo and Thomas Meunier swiftly arrived from wide. Suddenly City were overloaded. And it happened time after time.

Neither Elliot Anderson nor Enzo Fernandez could get to grips with the physical battle, unable to cope when Sunderland pressed man to man or played longer. City were out-duelled by a substantial amount, outrun too. Brobbey won 10 of the 12 duels he contested and drew a game-high five fouls. He could not be shackled, a clear winner of the tug-of-war.

Winning the anti-Pep way

But fortunately for Maresca, City were able to play Sunderland at their own game for enough of the match to score five times themselves. They picked on mistakes, digging deep to get the job done the anti-Pep way.

Imperfect but effective. Perhaps that should count for something, too.