Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle: 3 Things We Learned

Newcastle were way more attacking this time round

Pundits saying Newcastle’s display on Saturday was too defensive must have forgotten the previous fixture between these two. The first half an hour at St James’ Park did not see Newcastle leave their half, but in this game they actually looked to attack and were the first team to register a shot on target.

They were also dangerous on the break throughout as shown by their goal, and when the score was 2-1 in favor of the Blues no one in a Manchester City shirt inside the Etihad was comfortable. The Magpies made this one tough, and it’s interesting to see how the first game could have been had they approached it like they did on Saturday.

City need to convert more chances

It is all well and good creating chance after chance, but if you don’t do anything with these chances it is just pointless. The City team had countless opportunitites to put the game to bed but it was only until the third goal went in that City could actually settle and confirm the win.

That goal came in the 83rd minute but City should have finished this game much earlier, and they have to keep in mind that other teams might be more clinical than Newcastle and get a result if the Blues don’t finish better.

Leroy Sané needs to rediscover his form

Putting his goal against Liverpool aside for one moment, Sané has been nowhere near his best at the moment. He has repeatedly made wrong decisions or his shots haven’t been hit with the same level of accuracy that we have become accustomed to.

He did eventually produce some sensational work to set up Agüero for the third goal against Newcastle, but it needs to a game’s worth of a good performance and not just some occasional moments of magic.