The Football Faithful
·15 December 2024
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Yahoo sportsThe Football Faithful
·15 December 2024
Bernardo Silva slammed Manchester City for their late collapse to Manchester United and said his side played like ‘under-15s’.
City collapsed in the final minutes of the Manchester Derby as the Blues surrendered a lead late on to lose 2-1 at the Etihad. Josko Gvardiol had headed the Citizens ahead before the break, but Pep Guardiola’s team struggled to build on their advantage.
Manchester United grew into the game after half-time and created the better opportunities. The Red Devils were rewarded for their pressure when Amad Diallo was brought down inside the box. Matheus Nunes crashed into the winger, who had earlier intercepted the Nunes’s under-hit backpass. Bruno Fernandes made no mistake with his spot-kick, before United snatched the points when Diallo rounded Ederson to score a 90th-minute winner.
Silva slammed his side’s collapse and said City, whose woeful run extended to one win in 11 games, deserved their defeat.
“We deserved what happened. At this level a game or two is unlucky. We can’t say this is lucky or unlucky – 10 games it’s not about that,” the midfielder said to Sky Sports.
“Minute 87 in a derby, winning 1-0 and our corner ends in a penalty for them, if we make these stupid decisions with three or four minutes to go you deserve to pay for that. Looking at the game I think there was only one team that could win the game, but at the end we lost.
“It’s not one game, it’s a lot of games lately. We have to look at ourselves. You can say oh it’s a bit unlucky, no. It’s the decisions you make. Today in the last minute we played like under-15s.
“We don’t want them to happen. It’s a bit frustrating because if you look at the game until 86th minute there was only one team that could win the game. Then from a corner for Man City, you leave a centre back, Ruben stayed, but we end up with the ball at our keeper. There’s no excuse for that.
“When it happens in 10 games, we have to look at ourselves and see what we can do better. There needs to be communication for us to play short or to keep the ball in the corner or something. At least if the ball ends up with one of our midfielders, just put it in the corner. Not put yourself under pressure. It’s not just the pass from Matheus to the keeper. It’s everything, how the ball ends up from Ruben to Matheus and Kyle we have to do better. Be more experienced, smarter, at this level even if you’re better than the opponent. You deserve to lose the game.
“It’s quite normal that we’re not very happy at the minute. Not just this game but the last month. We have to do better individually and collectively because it’s not the standards of Manchester City.”