Takeaways From the Defeat Against Manchester United

Manchester City lost 1:0 at home to Manchester United in the Carabao Cup Semi Final but still limped into the Final thanks to a first leg performance.

It is one of the great unexplained mysteries of the Universe quite how Manchester City can have such a poor home record against United in the Pep Guardiola era. How has that been allowed to happen?

Since the arrival of Guardiola, United have largely been a spent force. Rolling around and inured to their current predicament, clutching at the twin comfort blankets of history and being a “big” club.

City have continued their ascendancy and that makes the current run of derby defeats at home all the more surprising. Is it that United raise their game against better teams, much like when we used to build our whole season around the win?

More from Man City Square

However it has arisen, it needs to stop. We have the spectacle of a tactically inferior manager – Ole – with a poor squad, coming away with the win again. And it just feels like an self inflicted wound.

Make no bones about it, City were poor in many areas of the pitch and this game should have been won comfortably. City should have been out of sight in the first 20 minutes and then we could have cheered each pass until the referee blew the final whistle.

As it stood, City were wasteful in front of goal and our threat disappeared largely with our pressing. City then stood on the edge of chaos as performances dwindled into lacklustre ambling. It took a handful of players – de Bruyne, Bernardo and Gundogan to wrestle any kind of performance on the pitch. Others were reduced to bystander status.

There are a few key characteristics which threaten to undermine our season. Firstly, a continued profilgacy in front of goal, where despite being Europe’s highest scorers we have missed key chances in games which have cost us results.

Secondly, a lack of defensive cohesion where the defence is neither linking quickly with the rest of the team or carrying out their tasks efficiently, instead we are afflicted with a soft centre with little bite.

Thirdly, there is a susceptibility to pace, especially on the flanks when possession is turned over which has been exploited by a number of teams. This is turning into an achilles heel where even Championship level teams believe we have a flaw.

Finally, there is a lack of biting leadership. Sometimes when performances are poor, being kind does not elicit a response. Sometimes being held to account can focus players too. The loss of Vincent Kompany, both on and off the field is feeling larger by the day.

So, the takeaways from watching the Semi Final defeat are that City need to get better soon, otherwise our hopes may have to be put on ice until next season.

Of course, it is good to get to Wembley again – our 18th appearance since the takeover – but it is only winning which counts and no one wants to be a runner up.

Next. City 0 United 1 Player Ratings. dark

City must quickly turn their attentions to resuming battle with Spurs and Jose Mourinho in what will no doubt be a tight and niggly match.

Home/Man City News