Michael Plant's full-time reaction from St James' Park as Manchester City were held by Newcastle United.
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00:00Newcastle United won, Manchester City won here in the Premier League at St. James' Park.
00:05This was a game that City, so much of the talk and the build-up to it was about how
00:09they would cope without Rodri and of course Kevin De Bruyne who was also injured.
00:12And as a first test, I think City fans will perhaps be a little bit disappointed, I thought
00:16they lacked rhythm, their usual rhythm anyway, and a little bit of creativity at times in
00:21the draw at St. James' Park.
00:22It was a game City probably started well in and I had the better chances, in quite a boisterous
00:27atmosphere you would say.
00:28It was certainly not such intimidating but an atmosphere that City certainly wanted to
00:33quiet.
00:34They managed to do that in the early spells and did get a goal via Josco Vorial in the
00:3735th minute.
00:38That was a really nice finish from him, turned inside and finished into the bottom corner.
00:42Jack Grealish did really well to pick him out of thought and actually Grealish, quite
00:45an eventful afternoon, several run-ins with players, Sandro Tonali, also Fabian Schaer
00:50as well.
00:51He picked up a booking for the coming together with Tonali.
00:55He played well, I thought there were some good performances at the back.
00:58Manuel Akanji played well, Ruben Diaz, Kyle Walker played well but ultimately was caught
01:02out for the Newcastle goal which was scored by Anthony Gordon at the start of the second
01:07half.
01:08Through ball in behind the City back line, it is an issue at times that that high line
01:11for City, the way they play and how high they like to play up the pitch, there's always
01:14going to be that space in behind to take advantage of.
01:17Newcastle with a rapid attacker as well, they just managed to do it.
01:20Through ball into Gordon, he was taken down by Ederson in the box, penalty awarded and
01:24the Newcastle winger confidently stroked the ball into the back of the net.
01:28From there, Newcastle didn't really create too many chances and City, who always looked
01:31the more likely to find a winner, they had three decent chances in the latter stages.
01:36Phil Foden firing right at Nick Pope, Bernard Silva also had a decent chance as well and
01:41Erling Haaland with a header in injury time.
01:42I think he'll be slightly disappointed how much he was involved today, didn't really
01:46have too many chances, only tested Nick Pope twice in the Newcastle goal.
01:49He did seem to pick up a knock as well in the first half when Vardy all scored.
01:54He actually came over to the touchline to get a little bit of treatment and there seemed
01:57to be a tear in the back of his sock following an accidental collision with Dan Byrne in
02:01the first half.
02:02But City, there was this talk about how they would set up here today without Rodri.
02:07They went for a midfield two of Kovacic, sorry I'm just moving my bag here, of Kovacic and
02:13Rico Loos at the base of midfield with Manuel Akanji pushing in from defence.
02:18I think certainly from a defensive performance it worked and actually City didn't give away
02:23too many chances here across the 90 minutes.
02:27But in terms of creating opportunities and creating openings there wasn't really a huge
02:30amount.
02:31Phil Foden started on the bench, I was slightly surprised with that to be honest given that
02:34De Bruyne wasn't involved.
02:36He came on in the latter, about halfway through the second half, didn't have a huge impact
02:39on proceedings if I'm honest.
02:42And it means that City for the second week in a row have failed to win, have dropped
02:45points again.
02:46They could actually potentially end this weekend not in first place in the Premier League.
02:51And I think the disappointing thing from them will be that for the second week in a row
02:54they've come up against a well-organised, disciplined side and failed to find a way
02:58past them.
02:59This was a very different game to the Arsenal, in some ways it's apple and oranges to compare
03:02but still the point stands that I think there might be a tiny little bit of concern just
03:07going forward that City haven't found a winning goal here.
03:11Listen, it's early days in the season so Jamieson Park is a difficult place to come.
03:14Newcastle are a good team so there won't be a huge amount of disappointment and concern
03:19overall but just that slight thought that this is the second week in a row that this
03:23has happened.
03:24But City overall, slightly disappointed without it certainly being the end of the world here
03:27at St James' Park.