Erling Haaland the poacher and four other things spotted at Newcastle vs Man City

Manchester City dropped their first points of the Premier League season on Sunday as they played out a six-goal thriller with Newcastle.

Pep Guardiola's side took an early lead at St James' Park courtesy of an Ilkay Gundogan strike, but they had to battle back from 3-1 down in the second half to rescue a point. City were well below their best for much of the contest, with their defence looking alarmingly shaky and disorganised.

There were positives to be had - such as a poacher's finish from Erling Haaland and some moments of brilliance from Kevin de Bruyne - but on the whole City will be frustrated. Here are some key moments from the game.

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Everything was going rather well for City until Nathan Ake went off through injury after 21 minutes. Ruben Dias replaced him and partnered John Stones, but City looked all over the place at the back from there on in.

Stones looked like he hadn’t started a City game in months, while the telepathic partnership Dias and Stones developed in 2020/21 was sorely absent. Newcastle looked like scoring with each attack, with the two defenders not knowing when to drop and when to track runners. Hopefully Ake isn’t out for too long.

Ilkay Gundogan looks to be back to his goal-scoring form of 2020/21, his strike in Newcastle his second in two games.

Pep has repeatedly praised the German’s ability to pop up in the box at exactly the right moment, and in the fifth minute he did just that to get on the end of Bernardo’s cross.

Erling Haaland was largely quiet for an hour, until he popped up to lash the ball high into the net and get City back in the game.

The striker was in the right place to convert Rodri’s flick