Haaland's late winner masks Manchester City's familiar frailty

Manchester City left the Red Bull Arena with three points on Wednesday night, but the 3-2 scoreline against RB Leipzig told a more complicated story than the result alone suggests. Erling Haaland's 78th-minute winner settled a match City had twice led and twice surrendered, and the striker's own verdict afterwards was notably blunt. "I think we need to step up a little bit," he told TNT Sports. "I think when we were 1-0, I think we needed to push forward a bit more to go at it, go for the second and then hopefully go for the third."

That is not the language of a team satisfied with a routine European away win. It is the language of a team that knows the margin between victory and a damaging draw was thinner than the final score implies.

City dominated possession with 65 per cent of the ball and generated 2.23 expected goals to Leipzig's 0.87. They created five big chances to Leipzig's two. By those measures, the visitors were the better side and deserved their win. But the shot count ran the other way: Leipzig had 14 attempts to City's 12, and six on target to City's five. A team with 35 per cent possession outshot the opposition and forced more saves.

The pattern of the goals reinforced the sense of a match City could not fully control. Castello Lukeba's own goal in the 37th minute — a farcical moment as he raced back to clear a Nico O'Reilly cross — gave City a lead they had not especially earned. Ridle Baku equalised four minutes after half-time. Enzo Fernández restored the lead on 58 minutes, only for Antonio Nusa to level again three minutes later. Haaland's late intervention, turning in a low Elliot Anderson cross after the midfielder burst into the box, was his 13th touch of the game and his 13th goal against Leipzig, his most against any opponent.

It was also his fifth goal in three Champions League matches this season, his 14th of the campaign, and his 62nd in 61 Champions League appearances. The individual numbers remain extraordinary. The collective picture is less settled.

City arrived in Germany after back-to-back Premier League defeats, including a 1-0 loss to Brighton. The response was a win, but not a convincing one. Leipzig, managed by their former defender Martin Demichelis, were enterprising and twice pegged City back. The German side's ability to score twice from 0.87 expected goals says something about their finishing and something about City's vulnerability at the other end.

Haaland's call for more aggression at 1-0 points to a specific frustration: City's failure to kill the game when ahead. Whether that is a tactical issue, a concentration issue, or simply the consequence of a squad still integrating new signings — Ayyoub Bouaddi, Elliot Anderson, Marc Guéhi, Gerónimo Rulli, Pierce Charles and Enzo Fernández all arrived in the summer, while Nico González, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Juma Bah, Nathan Aké and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey departed — is not yet clear. What is clear is that the manager's side is not yet controlling matches in the manner that has characterised their best European performances.

The result keeps City's Champions League league phase campaign on track with nine points from four matches. That is the bottom line, and it is a healthy one. But the manner of the win, and the striker's own public assessment, suggest the performance level remains a work in progress. Haaland's goals continue to paper over cracks. Whether City can close them before the knockout stages is the question the coming weeks will answer.