Manchester City were held to a draw by Newcastle United on Saturday – and there is a case for one player to now be a regular starter at the Etihad.
City dropped two more points at St. James’ Park, after taking the lead in the game.
Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring for City, but in the second-half Anthony Gordon scored a penalty, which was awarded controversially after minimal contact on him by goalkeeper Ederson.
In the end, it was probably a fair result.
City just weren’t prolific enough in the second-half, but Newcastle do deserve some credit for the way they defended at the end.
Pep Guardiola may not have got his team selection right yesterday. Potentially, it was a little to safe, im the absence of Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri.
One man who looked really good coming off the bench was Savinho, who is a player Pep must surely now started in the majority of games.
Savinho is a difference-maker for Man City
A strong case can be made for Bernardo Silva to no longer play wide on the right.
The Portugal international has been an unbelievable player for City. But these days, he is not effective in the wide positions.
He is far better centrally, where he can make the most of his technical attributes and work rate. He is wasted on the right, and offers next to no attacking threat.
From this point on, Pep ought to make Savinho his regular starter on that right side.
We saw his brilliance against Arsenal last weekend when he collected the ball, came inside and slid in Erling Haaland.
That was his third assist for the club in five Premier League appearances (if counting him being fouled against Ipswich Town for the penalty).
What has been evident during his short stint at City so far is that Savinho is a player who just makes things happen. You can see defenders step off him, almost out of fear.
Certainly, when someone like Kevin De Bruyne isn’t available, he needs to be on. Even more so when Pep decides against starting Phil Foden.
Savinho will be special
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It is obviously early days for Savinho at City. But you can clearly tell that he is going to become a top player.
Sure, the £40,000-a-week star is still getting to grips with the physicality of English football and needs to learn how this City team functions.
But there have been extremely encouraging signs after just eight appearances. He hasn’t scored yet, but has come close. Certainly, his creativity is not in question.
Savinho has started from the bench in each of City’s last two games now against Watford and Newcastle. Against Watford, he inject some much needed ingenuity, and almost scored a sensational solo goal, taking the ball from deep inside his own half before hitting the post.
Against Newcastle, he created a late chance for Haaland, who recently branded the Brazilian ‘amazing’, which perhaps says it all.
Right now, Savinho is the only solid option to play on that right side and Pep must deploy him there and allow him to flourish.
