Manchester City’s losing streak has just ended. But they are still a stock market ship that could sink at any moment.

After taking a 3-0 lead after 75 minutes, Feyenoord lost the lead in a late horror show as Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Giménez and David Hancko took advantage of the home team’s nerves, allowing Feyenoord to equalize and secure a hard-fought point secured.

After five straight defeats, a cantered win that would have made life easier for Pep Guardiola was on the cards, and his players are feeling much better ahead of the champions’ next challenge: Sunday’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool. But after City’s shaky finish here, they will be hard-pressed to enjoy the journey to leader Arne Slot.

Feyenoord, who arrived as fourth-placed team in the Eredivisie, appeared to have been beaten by two goals from Erling Haaland and one from Ilkay Gündogan. It all came after the break when Guardiola abandoned the narrow 4-3-3 that proved toothless against Ange Postecoglu’s Tottenham and switched to a 4-2-3-1 that was still gaping and wasteful in the first 45 minutes was.

The bigger picture, however, is that Rodri will continue to be sorely missed – for his calm head and cool control. Hadj Moussa and Giménez’s goals in the 75th and 82nd minutes were respectively due to Josko Gvardiol losing his composure and firing sloppy passes, while Ederson was at fault for equalizing for the visitors.

Against Feyenoord, whose six points came from wins over Benfica and Girona, Guardiola dropped Kyle Walker and Savinho from Saturday’s 4-0 defeat to Spurs. Matheus Nunes and Jack Grealish came on, with Nathan Aké staying on after replacing the injured John Stones at half-time.

It was no surprise that serial winners Erling Haaland and Phil Foden were joking in the build-up, both involved in a fluid move that saw the latter cross, the ball turned back by Manuel Akanji, the Norwegian header but Timon Wellenreuther saw save She with a frantic dive deep to the right.

Next, however, Wellenreuther was to blame. A misdirected pass from the goalkeeper was saved by City and suddenly Grealish’s volley shot into the goal, although Foden’s back blocked it. But now we saw the clumsiness that plagued Guardiola’s side as the sluggish Ilkay Gündogan was robbed, City spun and Josko Gvardiol’s muscle was needed to hinder Feyenoord on the right.

This led to a demonstration of Guardiola’s desperation. The same was true of Aké’s header against Julián Carranza, and an Igor Paixão burst in from his left wing to make the switch: the number 14 continued his run and eventually the ball came to him, but a flying attempt went up.

Excellence is another element City have been missing and although Foden’s turn-and-shoot saw Wellenreuther make the save, this was emblematic of that. Another problem was the gaps in midfield and the way Feyenoord advanced down the left was one of the many examples that led to the increasingly frustrated Guardiola turning his ire on Bernardo Silva for failing to monitor his cross .

The city’s famous press also failed. Brian Priske’s men played the ball the way their hosts wanted. Feyenoord kept slipping through them – as the ball went forward and Paixão hit the ball straight into Ederson’s hands.

Defensively, City appeared to have a goal waiting to happen. The attack was far simpler: a daring Foden attack, culminating in a blocked attempt, took his team to the end where they wanted to operate. After a Hwang In-beom rocket was repelled, City moved back up. But the same lack of precision led to Haaland hitting a leg instead of hitting Wellenreuther’s net.

But then a pause. Quinten Timber was the culprit for Haaland’s catch and Radu Petrescu pointed to the spot. Feyenoord’s captain lost the argument with the referee and after a delay, Haaland smashed the penalty into the bottom right corner. The relief among the city enthusiasts was palpable.

Could City grow from here and strut through the second half ahead of the weekend test? The answer was yes. Gvardiol shot the ball to Haaland with the necessary speed and the number 9 briefly saw the goal but turned into traffic. Nunes, direct, shot; From a corner, City could have scored a second goal for the first time since a 5-0 win over Sparta Prague on October 23.

The ball flew in from the right quadrant, it landed at Gündogan, and his left-footed volley crashed into the net from David Hancko, causing Wellenreuther to land on the wrong foot and the blue-clad team breathe more calmly.

Seconds later, City shifted into relaxed mode with a style of clash that seemed to have died out of late. Akanji fed Gündogan, whose pirouette signaled a pass to the marauding Nunes on the right. He ran forward and glided over a ball that brought home Haaland, the eternal nemesis, to make it 3-0.

Guardiola directed his celebration, as he loves to do, to the posh seats in the gods behind him, and his players danced. Grealish, Gvardiol and Foden all came close. City showed their usual poise and when Akanji splashed the ball straight to Hancko, he was relieved that the Feyenoord defender missed the target.

No such relief for Gvardiol, whose repeated unfortunate defeat to allied Spurs sparked Feyenoord’s comeback and City’s decline.