Manchester City 1 Manchester United 2: City player ratings as Manchester City capitulate again | OneFootball

Manchester City 1 (Josko Gvardiol 36′)

Manchester United 2 (Bruno Fernandes 88′ (P), Amad Diallo 90′)

Here are the City player ratings as Manchester City capitulated to go down to a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United. The derby defeat leaves more questions than answers and is a tough pill to swallow for Pep Guardiola’s side.

First half

Manchester City kicked off the 195th Manchester derby and the first ten minutes saw both teams have spells of possession. Although there were no real highlights to speak of in the game’s early stages.

It took 20 minutes for the first shot of the game to arrive. A flowing City move saw Doku play a cross into the Manchester United area. It was cleared by the United defence whose clearance fell to Phil Foden. His volley just went wide of the post with Andre Onana flat-footed as it went wide.

It took until the 36th minute for the game to finally spring to life. From a short corner, De Bruyne played the ball into the box, and Josko Gvardiol headed home to give Manchester City the lead. The game needed a moment to bring it to life, and finally, it had one.

The goal brought the game to life as Kyle Walker and Rasmus Højlund were both booked after a coming together. United almost equalised from the resulting free-kick as a goal-mouth scramble saw the ball drift wide of Ederson’s post.

Phil Foden almost doubled City’s lead right on the stroke of halftime. Foden’s skill saw him get a shot off on the edge of the area. His effort deflected off Harry Maguire and was saved by Onana to keep the score at 1-nil.

At the halftime whistle, Manchester City went into the interval with a 1-nil lead. There were moments from the world champions but United did pose their own threat throughout the first half.

Second half

The second half began in a similar fashion to that of the first. Manchester United had more possession but didn’t over a great deal of attacking threat. Manchester City hadn’t woken up during the first ten minutes of the second half.

In the 61st minute, Manchester United had their first shot on target. A Bruno Fernandes cross was met by Amad Diallo. Ederson made a fine save from his header to preserve City’s lead.

In the 74th minute, Manchester United had their best chance of the game. Jeremy Doku gave away possession in a dangerous area of the pitch. Rasmus Højlund played in Bruno Fernandes whose chip went wide of the post with Ederson beaten.

From there Manchester City had looked to have seen off the threat of Ruben Amorim’s side. But two massive errors from Matheus Nunes undid that. First, it was his back pass that fell short of Ederson. Amad Diallo seized upon the opportunity. Nunes fouled the winger in his desperation to make amends. Bruno Fernandes calmly dispatched the penalty to equalise.

It would then get a whole lot worse for Pep Guardiola’s side when Manchester United took the lead minutes later. A simple long ball played through Amad Diallo who rounded Ederson to give Manchester United the lead. It was another poor collapse from Pep Guardiola’s side that defies all explanation.

At the final whistle, there was a stunned atmosphere at the Etihad as City’s poor run extended to one win in eleven games. It’s gone past the point of a blip and serious questions need to be asked of this team.

Here are the City player ratings from a devastating defeat at the Etihad for Manchester City.

City player ratings

Ederson- 5/10: Made one good save and could do little about the penalty from Bruno Fernandes. Perhaps should’ve done better for Amad Diallo’s winner.

Kyle Walker -5/10: His best game for some time but that isn’t saying a lot.

Josko Gvardiol-6/10: Scored City’s goal with a fine header but his effort to stop Diallo’s winner left a lot to be desired.

Ruben Dias-6.5/10: He was a leader all night at the back. Did his job without being spectacular.

Matheus Nunes-4/10: Played well until his two errors changed the entire game. Have to feel for him but in the end his errors badly cost his team.

Ilkay Gundogan-5/10: Not his best game.

Kevin De Bruyne-6/10: It was De Bruyne’s deflected cross that set up Josko Gvardiol’s opening goal. But besides that his delivery was just off and he wasn’t at his best.

Bernardo Silva-5.5/10: He had moments but like so many of his teammates, he wasn’t at his best.

Phil Foden-6/10: Had flashes of brilliance in the first half but drifted out of the game in the second half.

Jeremy Doku- 5.5/10: He had his moments, but his end product was lacking. He also gave the ball away in dangerous positions, so it wasn’t his best display.

Erling Haaland-4/10: Manchester City needed him to lead the way but he was ineffectual on the night. Not the performance his team needed.

Substitutes

Mateo Kovacic-6/10: Brought on to provide control of the midfield in the games latter stages. Ultimately it didn’t pay off as City capitulated.

Jack Grealish-N/A: Not on long enough to mark.

Savinho- N/A: Not on long enough to mark.