“Today, (in) the last minutes we played like under-15s and we paid the price.”
Post-match interviews are always emotionally charged for players. They have barely left the field before a camera and a microphone are thrust in their face and they are expected to provide an articulate assessment of the game.
Bernardo Silva’s interview with Sky Sports was particularly fraught given Manchester City’s collapse in the closing stages of the Manchester derby, losing 2-1 to Manchester United after leading up to the 88th minute — the latest that a reigning champion has led in a Premier League game and lost.
Overall, Silva provided a realistic assessment of City’s struggles in recent weeks by saying that this cannot be attributed simply to bad luck. Injury issues notwithstanding, just one win in 11 games makes it difficult for City’s players to point the finger anywhere but towards themselves.
“Minute 87 in a derby, winning 1-0 and our corner ends in a penalty for them,” said Silva. “If we make these stupid decisions with three or four minutes to go you deserve to pay for that.”
It was a scathing assessment, but what exactly irked Silva during the final throes of their derby clash?
In truth, there was an element of teenage immaturity shown in the first half, with captain Kyle Walker throwing himself to the ground in a desperate attempt to get Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund sent off after the pair squared up to each other during a heated confrontation.
It was emblematic of the agitation that swirled through the Etihad Stadium throughout the game, with a desperation from City players and fans to get over the line by any means necessary.
The obvious place to start is the equaliser, with Matheus Nunes — deputising at left-back for the first time in his senior career — the one who will gain the most criticism for his under-hit pass back to Ederson being compounded by a subsequent foul on Amad Diallo as he tried to rectify his error.
However, there were things that his team-mates could have done better to help avoid that situation. The first comes from Ruben Dias, who is under pressure from Amad as he is on the ball. Under pressure himself, Walker encourages Dias to play a simple ball back to Ederson to reset City’s sequence…
….but a pass to Walker sees him take the ball on the right flank towards Nunes. Walker has two options in this pass — to Nunes’ dominant right foot (red arrow) in an open body shape, or to Nunes’s “safe side” on his left foot, with Joshua Zirkzee closing him down. As he elects to play it to his left foot, Walker limits the options that Nunes has in his subsequent action.
The under-hit pass and subsequent foul were careless, but the event itself could have been cut off at source with better decision-making.
Just as Nunes found out himself, poor decisions can be infectious and United’s equaliser saw Pep Guardiola’s men engage in actions that are wildly out of character from the dominant team we know.
Speaking of infectiousness, City looked to be socially distancing from Lisandro Martinez as the Argentina international played the searching ball for Amad’s winner. As Bruno Fernandes plays the ball back to Martinez, Silva is front-footed in pushing forward, with team-mate Savinho pointing to Walker to ensure he is tracking United’s Diogo Dalot — presumably to allow him to push forward himself to support Silva’s press.
However, instead of the pair pushing onto Fernandes and Martinez, they both retreat into a midfield shape, giving Martinez time and space to lift his head up and pick a pass.
By the time Martinez plays it, it was up to Phil Foden to run across his team-mates to be the nearest City player to the ball — and still not close to stopping the pass. With an unstructured defensive line, a single ball over the top was all it took for United to find the winner in the 90th minute.
It is worth noting how good the first touch and finish was from United’s young winger, but a lack of pressure on the ball in the midfield third — coupled with balls played over their back line — has been a theme of City’s recent poor form.
Granted, their defensive line was not as high as in previous sequences, but City’s lack of pressure was particularly naive when United’s tails were up just seconds after Fernandes scored their penalty.
In search of an equaliser, there was a confused, desperate approach from City during stoppage time. One example sees Savinho fed the ball on the right flank with no support near him. Four City players are lining up in the box but United have doubled up on the Brazilian international, knowing he is unlikely to drive onto his weaker right foot.
This sequence ended with City attempting to cross the ball. Maybe it is beneath Guardiola’s approach to lump the ball into the mixer? Not so.
Just seconds later, Jack Grealish cut in on his right foot before crossing into the box to find… United’s Victor Lindelof, having not beaten the first man with his lofted ball.
The subsequent corner, taken by Grealish, was an opportunity to load the box with a set piece sequence in the final stages. The result? A flat cross to the first United player, so bad that Martinez had to stoop to head it away.
With City keeping the ball alive, Silva had the opportunity for one final cross. Same result, straight to the nearest United shirt.
Under-15s indeed.
The final straw came when captain Walker had an opportunity for one final, desperate ball forward. Typically, players will find an angle to play a long diagonal ball in the hope that a player will knock it down to a central area.
Instead, Walker’s ball was far too straight and bounced safely into the hands of Andre Onana, who duly ran the clock down in the final seconds.
The final opportunity wasted.
The worst thing was that City have had a similar experience of throwing away a lead already this season, drawing 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League after being 3-0 up going into the 75th minute.
Not learning from such an experience is a sin that will hurt Guardiola as much as the defeat itself.
Even accounting for the injury issues they have, the quality of City’s squad is not in doubt. However, Silva was right — the naivety, immaturity, and flimsiness of their performance in the final 10 minutes was in keeping with teenage behaviours.
(Top photo: Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images)
