It isn't all doom and gloom for Manchester City as their first half performance showed last night

It isn’t all doom and gloom for Manchester City as their first half performance showed last night

Come the final whistle last night against Sporting Manchester City fell to a crushing 4-1 defeat. A host of City’s frailties were exposed by Ruben Amorim’s side. That was on full display in the second half of last night’s Champions League fixture. But it isn’t all doom and gloom for the world champions. There were positives to take from last night’s game even if it felt like there were none.

First of all, Manchester City dominated the first half. Once Phil Foden gave his team an early lead it looked like City was in for a big night. The champions dominated the first half and should’ve been out of sight by the time Viktor Gyökeres equalised in the 38th minute. That goal and three minutes of madness football from City after halftime changed the game. From there Sporting ran out deserved 4-1 winners. But before that, Manchester City dominated the first half and should’ve made their dominance count by the time Gyökeres made his presence felt.

Secondly, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey showed he wasn’t out of place in Manchester City’s first team. The youngster did the best he could on a night when several of his more experienced teammates performed a lot worse. Simpson-Pusey showed he is a young player to work with going forward based on his display last night.

Speaking after his team’s 4-1 defeat Pep Guardiola told the media that there were positives to take from last night’s defeat. He told the media: “They know it. I know it is impossible for the world to say this because it was 4-1. But they know we played well in certain moments. Against Bournemouth, we were not. I would say that we have to do a lot to score our goals. In the first half, Savinho lost the ball and Gyökeres had the one against one but other than that they didn’t do anything.

It isn’t all doom and gloom for Manchester City after last night’s defeat. There were some positives to take from last night’s match. But there is also plenty to work on for the world champions which also stood out come the final whistle.

Tags Erling Haaland Jahmai Simpson-Pusey Manchester City Phil Foden Savinho Sporting Lisbon UEFA Champions League