Manchester City beat RB Leipzig 3-2 in the Champions League in an important victory that also exposed weaknesses in the team

Erling Haaland delivered again when Manchester City needed him with a late winner in Leipzig to give Enzo Maresca a first win in four games. City had twice thrown away the lead in another game where their defence wobbled, but Haaland had the final say to push them into the top eight of the Champions League.

Maresca continues to chop and change his team, bringing Marc Guehi back in place of captain Ruben Dias as one of four changes from the weekend defeat to Brighton. And as much as it shows strength in depth when the team win, it also adds to the feeling that the manager is yet to settle on a favoured unit in defence or midfield.

City's starters in Leipzig too often took the wrong option in the opening 45 minutes, running into problems rather than out of them and showing the same blinkered thinking in front of goal that has cost them in their last two Premier League games. RB Leipzig were even more encouraged when Gianluigi Donnarumma let Antonio Nusa's effort through his fingers, even if it did only drop onto the roof of the net.

Maresca had said before the game that City could not rely on Haaland to score all of their goals, and his teammates were reprieved when Castello Lubeka turned a Nico O'Reilly ball into his own net. That should have given the visitors a platform to build on, yet within minutes of the second half they were pegged back.

Donnarumma used all of his height to tip a Christoph Baumgartner shot round the post just after the break, but was horribly exposed moments later as Ridle Baku beat him at his near post from a tight angle. Elliot Anderson and O'Reilly weren't great to lose possession in their own half and Donnarumma was given too much to do all night, but he is still making the sort of ugly mistakes that make him an obvious target for criticism.

Attack has looked like City's best form of defence for a while, and to their credit they worked the ball well for Enzo Fernandez to put them back in the lead. That could not improve their actual defending though, and Nusa was given far too much space in the box after an hour to make it 2-2.

That made it 14 goals conceded in the last seven games for City, who haven't kept a clean sheet since they won at Anfield last month. When you are letting in two every match, it is incredibly difficult to win football matches in any competition and City cannot expect to score more than that every time.

It was a weird game, with the midfield not really working again, defensive errors, more poor decisions in front of goal and even an offside from Haaland. If that collectors' item doesn't show all is not quite right with City, nothing will - yet this win puts the team on course for the top eight of the Champions League.

Of course this is a new project and City remain - as they have looked since Maresca took over in summer - a work in progress. As they head to Nottingham Forest on Saturday knowing they cannot afford to drop more points in the Premier League, Maresca's side have to tighten up to start making things easier for them.

If that fails though, there is always Haaland.