Don’t be fooled by Mateo Kovacic’s rare goals – Man City are more fragile than ever

Manchester City 3-2 Fulham: Kovacic twice found the back of the net as Pep Guardiola’s team came from behind to triumph at the Etihad Stadium

Mateo Kovacic scored twice for Man City as they came from behind to defeat Fulham (Getty Images)

No prizes for guessing who Manchester City’s top scorer is. Yet the identity of the man second in their standings comes as more of a surprise. Pep Guardiola’s squad contains a solitary striker, the ubiquitous Erling Haaland, but a galaxy of attacking midfield talent includes plenty with a goalscoring pedigree.

But not Mateo Kovacic. Serial Champions League winner, World Cup finalist and neat passer he may be, but the Croatian tends to be a stranger to scoring. “He is not a guy who scores goals,” said Guardiola. In a club career spanning 553 games, he had never struck twice in a match. He has now, and beyond the statistical significance – a brace already renders this his most productive league campaign in a decade – there was an importance to Kovacic’s rescue act.

City have now extended their unbeaten run at home to 50 matches in all competitions – excluding a penalty shootout against Real Madrid in which Kovacic failed to convert his spot kick – but they were trailing to Fulham until he intervened. Rodri had a habit of delivering crucial goals and, if Kovacic is yet to convince he can replicate all of the injured Spaniard’s contribution, he may have adopted that mantle, if only for one afternoon.

Mateo Kovacic sparked the comeback with a first-half equaliser before adding a second after the break (Getty Images)

His maiden double still required a sizeable deflection, via Joachim Andersen for his first goal. His second, however, showed a level of technique to invite questions about why his goals are such rarities. For now, anyway, Kovacic can reflect that he has three times as many goals this season as Phil Foden, or Ilkay Gundogan, or Kevin de Bruyne.

As City ended a two-game winless run in the Premier League – lengthy by their standards, if unremarkable for many another – the match revolved around two players whose principal shortcoming is an inability to find the net.

Nevertheless, Adama Traore has a match-winning brace at the Etihad Stadium to his name, too. But it came five years ago and in a Wolves shirt. Fulham seemed to follow much of the same formula for beating City at home, with bodies behind the ball and blistering speed on the break. “He is unstoppable, that guy,” said Guardiola. The problem was that Traore illustrated why his 379-game career has yielded just 32 goals. He had three golden chances. He missed all three.

Adama Traore created a lot of chances but couldn’t convert for Fulham (Getty Images)

Marco Silva deployed the Spaniard on Fulham’s left, isolating him against an overpowered Rico Lewis. Traore brushed the smaller, slighter teenager aside when he first converged on goal, but Ederson saved. Then, when found by Alex Iwobi in a similarly promising position, he skied a shot. When Pep Guardiola summoned Kyle Walker, seeking a specialist to stop Traore, the out-of-form captain was instead outpaced with embarrassing ease – compounding the Englishman’s poor start to the season – but Ederson again denied Traore. The goalkeeper was City’s other match-winner.

Jeremy Doku shares certain similarities with Traore. The Belgian, too, can feel an unstoppable, mercurial dribbler. But he had an end product, unleashing a rocket from distance to seal victory and mean that at least one of Guardiola’s substitutions worked.

Silva’s starting 11, sacrificing Emile Smith Rowe for the solidity of Sander Berge, giving them a platform in midfield and they could have prevailed. They were expertly configured, playing to a game plan. “We have four clear chances to score,” rued Silva. “Looking at the chances we create and comparing with City we deserve more from the game. We have to be proud of the performance but unhappy with the result.”

Andreas Pereira sent Fulham into a shock lead against the Premier League champions (Getty Images)

They led via a glorious goal. The former Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira volleyed the finish but the inspiration came from Raul Jimenez, improvising a backheeled cross.

City looked susceptible on the break and Guardiola tinkered with his defence in a quest to halt Fulham, bringing on first Walker and then John Stones, but they still felt fragile. Fulham scored a late second from a combination of two replacements, Reiss Nelson setting up Rodrigo Muniz.

However, what City increasingly have is a capacity to come from behind. They have trailed in each of their four home league games and emerged with 10 points. There was an element of fortune to their leveller as Kovacic’s drive was deflected in off Joachim Andersen. His second was more precise, Bernardo Silva chesting down Foden’s cross and Kovacic curling a shot into the bottom corner of the net. Like his opening-day strike at Chelsea, it showed his class. It also meant the last visitors to win at the Etihad remain Brentford, a half-century of games ago and before the 2022 World Cup. Yet if the infrequent scorer to find his shooting boots had been Traore and not Kovacic, City’s run may have ended at 49.