What on earth is going on with Manchester City? They are on an incredibly poor run of form, having won just one win in 11 games. Their only win in that time has come against Nottingham Forest, a 3-0 win at the Etihad Stadium. Aside from that, things have been bleak for the eight-time Premier League champions.
Their most recent defeat came at the hands of their biggest rivals, Manchester United. Ruben Amorim’s men came from 1-0 down to win 2-1, spearheaded by Amad Diallo who won the penalty for the first goal and scored the winner.
There were poor performances littered throughout the City side in the Manchester Derby, with decisions needing to be made for the trip to face Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
Man City’s worst performers vs. Man United
No doubt one of City’s worst performers against the Red Devils was Matheus Nunes. The Portugal international must be cut some slack for the fact he played out of position at left-back, although he did not appear comfortable in that role at times.
United exploited that, constantly looking to play down their right-hand side with Amad. After knocking on the door for the whole game, the Ivorian eventually wore the defender down, and Nunes gave away the penalty and couldn’t reach the ball to clear it off the line for the winner.
His limp performance led the Manchester Evening News journalist Simon Bajkowski to give him a 4/10 rating for his performance. He explained Nunes ‘lost his head’ to allow United back into the game.
Kevin De Bruyne was another player who struggled at the Etihad Stadium. The Belgian legend has not been at his best for the last 18 months, and that was summed up against United, as he struggled to make any impact on the game.
City’s number 17 had poor stats from the game according to Sofascore. Incredibly, he failed to create a chance despite being on the pitch for 68 minutes and having 45 touches. The attacking midfielder lost possession 13 times and failed to complete one cross.
Stat
Player
Number
Successful dribbles
Amad
5
Defensive actions
Harry Maguire
12
Passes completed
Lisandro Martinez
60/61
Pass accuracy
Lisandro Martinez
98%
Chances created
Bruno Fernandes
3
Duels won
Bernardo Silva, Noussair Mazaroui
9
As bad as Nunes and De Bruyne were against United, there was someone who was arguably worse and now could be axed from the team to face Villa. That man is Kyle Walker.
Why Walker could be dropped vs Aston Villa
It has been a really poor season so far this term for the experienced defender. He has been incredibly frail defensively, as the numbers on FBref show.
The Englishman has made 0.71 blocks and one clearance per 90 minutes, which ranks him in the bottom 7% and 3% of defenders in Europe’s big five leagues, respectively.
Against United, the City number two was poor and received a 5/10 for his efforts from Bajkowski. He pointed out one moment that put the limelight on Walker for the wrong reason after he went down following a clash of heads with Rasmus Hojlund, if you can even call it that.
Roy Keane dubbed him “embarrassing” for his actions, as the £175k-per-week veteran seemingly tried to get the United number nine sent off.
It was certainly a moment to forget for Walker, who didn’t exactly cover himself in glory outside of that moment. He lost the ball a whopping 20 times and won just two out of four attempted ground duels. It was a shoddy performance from the Englishman.
Walker’s efforts against City’s cross-city rivals could certainly leave Pep Guardiola with some selection decisions before the clash against the Villans. He hasn’t exactly been a mainstay in the Cityzens lineup this season, missing nine games across all competitions since the first day of the league campaign.
There are options at Guardiola’s disposal should he wish to drop the right-back. John Stones is finally coming back to full fitness and was on the bench against United, and Rico Lewis will return from suspension after his red card away to Crystal Palace.
Academy defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey is another option for the Spaniard if he wishes to drop Walker.
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After his antics with Hojlund and the fact both he and his team are in such horrendous form, it would not be hard to blame Guardiola if he drops Walker. Either way, the trip to Villa Park is a huge game for City and not a game they can afford to lose again.
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