Key events
90 min We’ll have five additional minutes.
88 min De Bruyne and Alvarez depart, Bobb and Nunes replacing them.
88 min We’ve not been told the player of the match yet, but De Bruyne has been a class above everyone, again. What’s special about him, I think, is the physicality that elevates his technical and intellectual abilities – the power and change of pace is rare in a player of his skillset.
86 min Assuming City cling on, Forest will end today just a point above Luton and two above Burnley, suddenly in a relegation scrap they looked to have already lost. They play Forest too, last game – but next up for the Reds is a trip to Sheffield United. win that and they’ll be nicely set, because Burnley have to play Newcastle and Spurs too; Luton have Everton home, West Ham away, Fulham home.
84 min Change for Forest, Sangaré on for Boly – who Forest will delighted to have back, especially given the injury to Murillo. And that might, I’m afraid be the legacy of what’s been a decent performance, because if he’s out for any length of time, his side immediately become less likely to stay up.
83 min So, where do we rank this City side? I’ve always thought them less good than Guardiola’s first side, who were so ball-dominant it seemed like there were more than 11 of them on the pitch, but these might just make that position untenable through sheer weight of trophies.
81 min The sun shines as City pass and move, Forest chasing about because they have to.
79 min Forest huff and puff, but they know the koo. They’ll do well to lose this 2-0, and as I type, Haaland beats his man but can’t keep at i so goes backwards. Kovacic for Doku has given City much more control, and though in some games an extra explosive attacker is helpful, if they’re bossing possession like this they’re very difficult to stop.
77 min “Surely when assessing the worst movie adaptations,” says Geoff Wignall, “the the levels of pretension and portentousness should be taken into account along with ruination of the book, no? In which case I’d happily nominate Reds and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. As for best adaptations (in terms of movie quality), All Quiet on the Western Front, Catch 22 and inevitably The Godfather would fill my podium.”
I’ve not seen Catch 22, I guess I should – likewise East of Eden, another of my all-time favourite novels, read it read it read it. And for ruination, look no further than Nicholas Cage’s outing as the eponymous hero of Captain Corelli’s Madonlin.
75 min We said it earlier, but this is again the thing with City: they know how to win. Forest, though, have had proper chances, even if the sense that had they scored, City would’ve gone up a gear, seems a more likely outcome than the home side hanging on to record a famous win.
73 min Murillo, who’s been such an excellent purchase, goes down, and that’ll be him done. He’s replaced by Obamidele with Elanga and Danilo also departing, Reyna and Yates on for them.
GOAL! Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City (Haaland 71)
It was coming, and here it is. Loads of City passes, then De Bruyne feeds Haaland down the right of the box, giving him Murillo one-on-one. He shapes to go inside … then schleps the jiggered groin outside, dragging the ball down the side an slotting an expert’s finish across Sels and into the far corner. Chris Wood will be feeling exceedingly poor round about now, Mikel Arteta and his men too.
69 min “I hate to be controversial,” says Joseph Surtees, |but the Lord of the Rings books are overwritten twaddle, despite the linguistic brilliance of JRR Tolkien. The films are better. In an attempt to be less negative, I’ll share the fun fact that five-time married politician Gerhard Schröder’s nickname is the Lord of the Rings (also “Audi Man”).”
The fils have preserved the linguistic brilliance, or just done a better job of telling the story?
67 min De Bruyne’s becoming increasingly influential, picking out pockets in midfield. This time, his link-up with Haaland doesn’t work out, but the time and space he’s getting, I’d not back against him settling this … and of course as I type, he picks up possession outside the box, advances, and swishes a rising shot which Sels turns around the post. Poor Murillo, by the way, looks to have diddled his groin, but he stays on for now and the corner is cleared.
66 min It’s gone a bit quiet, which neither side will mind too much: Forest would’ve taken being a goal down going into the final stages, I’m sure, while City are happy to see time disappear … ad as I type, Murillo slides in to rob De Bruyne just as he looks to have got away.
64 min “loved all the Diamond Brothers books,” returns Max Williams, “but The Falcon’s Malteser is the best – that title alone is genius. Amazed they haven’t been adapted more. Have met Anthony Horowitz a couple of times and he seems an utter mensch. Slightly tangential, but worst books that made the best films? The Spy Who Loved Me is a terrible book but one of the best Bonds.”
And gave us one of the best covers.
63 min Haaland backs away from the ball to turn around the corner for De Bruyne, who feeds Alvarez at inside-left – perhaps he’ll do better then than he did through the middle. But he’s running away from goal here, ramming a rising finish a few feet over the near angle.
62 min Back to Doku by the way, will he be yet another player who explodes after an iffy first season learning what Guardiola wants from him, or will he be another Nolito?
62 min City send on Haaland for Grealish, who’s struggled to get into the game.
61 min Forest move it about nicely, playing with confidence and belief. City will be delighted to get out of here with the points, but there’s a lot of work to do before they can do that.
60 min Gvardiol oozes through midfield and, one-on-one with Boly looks to take on his man, but is easily dispossessed.
59 min “I couldn’t say for certain what the best book adaptation is,” writes JR in Illinois, “but I could say for certain what the worst one is: Bonfire of the Vanities. What a disaster. It was so bad there was a book written about how terrible it was, The Devil’s Candy: The Anatomy of a Hollywood fiasco, which I highly recommend.”
I’ve not read that, but it became a joke because a mate at law school had it in his bag the whole year. JPR, if you happen to be reading this, I hope you’ve since finished it.
57 min On the touchline, Haaland warms up, and I doubt it’ll be long until we see him. Alvarez has been anonymous and another City goal kills it.
56 min “Ben-Hur and Goodfellas were both adaptations and are two of the most important and iconic films of all time,” says Marcus Abdullahi.
And the Ten Commandments.
54 min Aina, who’s been excellent, runs Bernado out of a cross towards the far post then charges upfield, burning past Walker – not many can say that – before the Caity player gets back in.
53 min I can’t believe I forgot Trainspotting when giving some favourite adaptations. As it goes, I don’t love the film, which feels like a succession of set-pieces, but it retains enough of what makes the book great to still be great itself – and the soundtrack is a jazzer. I can’t think of many, if any intros, which evoke a time with such clarity as the opening to Born Slippy.
52 min A long ball over the top and Elanga’s away! But he dithers, Ake gets back at him, and then the flag goes up.
51 min On Gibbs-White, how far do we think he can go? He strikes me as a Klopp-type player, full of attitude, aggression and ability, especially if he can play as a box-to-box midfielder, not just an attacker. I really like him, and if he gets the right move at the right time, he can develop into something really interesting.
50 min Elanga breaks, finds Wood, and he cuts in then feeds Montiel, who lays back to the edge … and Gibbs-White curls around the base of the near post.
49 min City have looked vulnerable at the back, especially in wide areas – or, in other words, Nuno’s tactics have been good, they’ve just been let down by a lack of quality in front of goal.
47 min Oh Chris. Ohhhhhh maaaaaate! Elanga bustles away from Akanji then to and through Walker, hitting the line before flicking square to set Wood for a tap-in! But certain he’s scored, he’s slow and deliberate about his finish, allowing a further tame shot to be blocked! If he’d finished with even basic competence, Forest might be ahead.
46 min City make two changes, Ortega replacing the injured Ederson for the third time this season, while Doku is removed presumably for being wasteful and erratic, Kovacic inserted to add solidity and poise.
46 min We go again.
“While I dearly love the Bogart version of The Big Sleep,” returns Joe Pearson, “they really had to tone down a lot of the sex and drugs from the novel. And I love the anecdote that the movie producers wired Chandler to ask who killed the chauffeur, and he replied he didn’t know.”
“He didn’t know,” a perfect distillation of Chandler’s brilliance.
Half-time email: “The Maltese Falcon an even better film than The Big Sleep for me,” says Andy Townsend Max Williams, “adapted from a lesser book (though still brilliant). Not sure it introduced the Macguffin but probably the most famous version of it.”
Tangentially, The Falcon Malteser was one of my favourite books as a kid, I highly recommend to anyone with little people to buy for.
Half-time entertainment: for some, a fixture between these two will always be synonymous with this.
HALT-TIME: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Manchester City
Forest have played well, City lead. Obviously.
45+4 min “You know, between the Arsenal game and this, I’m beginning to think Liverpool might not win the league after all,” sighs Matt Dony.
They were never going to, I’m afraid. They and Spurs have way more points than their performances merit and no side has ever won the title when inferior to two other sides. That they’ve taken it to here is testament to the genius of Jürgen Klopp.
45+2 min The delivery is brutal too, dipping and swinging at the near post such that Ederson drops it, Murillo unable to force home in the ensuing scramble. But Forest are a proper threat here, with more attempts on goal than City; problem is, the visitors will likely improve in the second half.
45+2 min Again, Aina is the outlet for Forest and he wins a corner down the left, Hudson-Odoi to take.
