Man City players top six of the Premier League’s individual leaderboards after nine games, from goals and shots to dribbles, fouls won and passes completed. Look for a City name among the league’s best chance creators, though, and you will not find one.
That gap explains a lot about the last fortnight. City lost to Aston Villa and then 1-0 at home to Brighton, where Yasin Ayari scored in the 11th minute and Bart Verbruggen made seven saves. Plenty of shots, plenty of the ball, not enough clear openings.
Enzo Maresca’s side go to RB Leipzig in the Champions League tonight (8pm UK) and then to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, so the numbers below are a decent guide to what is working and what is not.
Where Man City player stats lead the league
Start with the obvious. Erling Haaland is top for goals (9), expected goals (6.48) and shots (34). Nobody else has more than six league goals, and only Everton’s Thierno Barry (6.20) gets close on xG.
Then it spreads out across the team.
| Player | Category | Number | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | Goals | 9 | 1st |
| Erling Haaland | Expected goals (xG) | 6.48 | 1st |
| Erling Haaland | Shots | 34 | 1st |
| Jeremy Doku | Dribbles won | 24 | 1st |
| Elliot Anderson | Fouls won | 28 | 1st |
| Ruben Dias | Passes completed | 756 | 1st |
| Ruben Dias | Touches | 888 | 2nd |
| Elliot Anderson | Duels won | 65 | Joint 2nd |
| Marc Guehi | Pass accuracy | 94.9% | 3rd |
| Abdukodir Khusanov | Pass accuracy | 94.4% | 4th |
| Rayan Cherki | Average rating | 7.34 | 5th |
Antoine Semenyo also shows up, though not in a list he will enjoy: his seven offsides put him level second with Alexander Isak, Bukayo Saka and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, behind Kai Havertz on 12.
Haaland is doing more than his share
Nine goals from chances worth 6.48 means Haaland is scoring roughly two and a half more than an average finisher would from the same looks. He also has the second-best average rating in the division (7.58), behind only Chelsea’s Joao Pedro (7.74).
It isn’t perfect. He is joint fourth for big chances missed with six, alongside Igor Thiago and Dan Ndoye. But the bigger worry is the supply, not the finishing.
Maresca has already said it in public before Leipzig: City can’t just rely on Erling. We looked at what he wants from the rest of the attack on Tuesday night.
The creativity hole
Here is the number that matters. The top of the key passes list belongs to Brighton’s Pascal Gross (24), Florian Wirtz (22), Morgan Gibbs-White and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (21 each). Big chances created is led by Gross, Gibbs-White and Dewsbury-Hall on seven, with Cole Palmer and Alex Iwobi on six. Iwobi also leads expected assists (2.78).
No Man City player appears in any of those three lists. For a side whose centre-back Ruben Dias completes more passes than anyone in the league, that is a striking gap.
It is also no coincidence that the man at the top of two of them plays for Brighton, the side that left the Etihad with all three points on Saturday.
Why the passing numbers can mislead
Dias has completed 756 passes in total, seven ahead of Tottenham’s Jan Paul van Hecke. Marc Guehi (600) is fifth, and Guehi and Abdukodir Khusanov are third and fourth for pass accuracy at 94.9% and 94.4%.
That tells you City keep the ball well at the back. It doesn’t tell you they are hurting anyone with it. When the centre-backs are the ones racking up the passes, the ball is often going sideways rather than into the box.
Doku and Anderson carry the ball, and the hits
Jeremy Doku has won 24 dribbles, three more than Hull’s Mohamed Belloumi and Tottenham’s Mohammed Kudus. The flip side is that he is also joint third for failed dribbles with 23, so roughly half of his take-ons come off. That is the deal with Doku: he will try it again and again.
Elliot Anderson might be the most quietly important player in the squad. He has won 28 fouls, six more than anyone else, and his 65 duels won is level with James Tarkowski and one behind Hull’s Oli McBurnie. He is third for touches (853) and passes completed (613), and joint sixth for ball recoveries (48). We wrote this week about his De Bruyne idol, and the numbers say he is doing a bit of everything.
And then there’s Cherki
Rayan Cherki is fifth for average rating (7.34), ahead of every City player except Haaland. That fits the argument we made after the Brighton defeat that he is too good to be a super-sub. If City need a creator, the most obvious one is already in the squad.
What’s missing at the back?
No City goalkeeper is in the top five for saves, save percentage or clean sheets. Verbruggen and Arsenal’s David Raya lead the clean sheets with six each. City’s centre-backs pass the ball beautifully, but keeping it out has been harder.
One more name stands out with Saturday in mind: James McAtee, the City academy graduate now at Nottingham Forest, is third for ball recoveries with 57.
Verdict: Man City need goals from midfield, not more passes
These numbers paint a side that controls games and has the best striker in the league, but doesn’t make enough chances for him or for anyone else. Topping six leaderboards is impressive. Having nobody in the creative ones is the problem.
The fix doesn’t have to come from the transfer market. More minutes for Cherki, Anderson pushed higher, and fewer passes between the centre-backs would all help. If City want to stop the run of defeats, the next goal has to come from someone other than Haaland.
