Yahoo Sports Five Things Learned: Bournemouth 2-1 Manchester City (Premier League)
Manchester City suffered their first league defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, as Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth beat the champions 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium.
An injury-stricken City side travelled to the south coast coming off the back of a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup during the week, with hopes of returning back to winning ways against the Cherries.
It was the worst possible start for the blues, as Milos Kerkez stormed down the left-wing leaving Phil Foden in his wake, before fizzing a cross in for Antoine Semenyo, who controlled expertly before giving the hosts a priceless lead inside eight minutes.
In a first-half utterly dominated by Bournemouth, Manchester City were perhaps slightly grateful to only go in at the break a goal down, with work to do in the second-half for the champions.
However, Andoni Iraola’s side refused to let up and doubled their advantage in the second half in similar fashion to the first goal, with a Kerkez cross this time converted by Evanilson, scoring past his international companion to give the home fans a dream.
Controlling the ball without creating chances, the Blues looked lost for ideas, but a brilliant header in the 80th minute by Josko Gvardiol ignited some hope of a comeback, as the Croatian plucked out an Ilkay Gundogan cross to half the deficit.
As Manchester City pushed and probed in search of an equaliser, it was last chance saloon in added time of 90 minutes, when Erling Haaland had a double chance which somehow stayed out of the net, as a headed effort saved by Travers rebounded to the striker, who couldn’t sort his feet out to convert the follow up.
The game ended at 2-1, with Bournemouth claiming a first ever victory over Manchester City in the Premier League, as the blues slipped down to 2nd place in the table going into Champions League action midweek.
With that being said, here are Five Things We Learned from Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 defeat to AFC Bournemouth on the south coast!
City were beaten by the better team!
On paper, Saturday’s clash with Bournemouth should’ve been a comfortable three points for Manchester City, but it certainly didn’t pan out that way, with the hosts being much the better side.
The heavily congested fixture list meant that a City team full of injuries understandably played like a team that had played football under 72 hours before, with the squad looking incredibly dreary towards the end of the match.
A shake-up in midfield is much needed!
During his cameos off the bench and starts in cup competitions, James Mcatee has looked like a lively presence for Manchester City, with the 22-year-old being given more minutes this season.
However, the youngster has only been given one single minute in the Premier League this season, which he has every right to feel aggrieved by, especially considering the injuries across the board this season.
Given the fact that City continue to get overrun in midfield, it is now time to rely on the likes of Mcatee and Nico O’Reilly, as Pep Guardiola’s side look to add some drive and some legs back into the middle of the park.
The beginning of the end for Kyle Walker
Club captain Kyle Walker has been a great servant to Manchester City during his seven years at the Etihad Stadium, with the full-back lifting countless trophies, including captaining the side to a Premier League title last season.
However, it seems clear that football at the top level is starting to pass by him, and Saturday afternoon’s drubbing by Antoine Semenyo in particular was a horrible reminder of Kyle Walker’s age.
The England international will undoubtedly have a part to play this season, but starting these games is starting to look impossible, with wingers licking their lips at the prospect of facing him these days.
A performance more worrying than the result
Losing to this high-flying Bournemouth side has no shame in it, but the manner in which the blues lost will be of concern to Pep Guardiola, as his side were comfortably second best on Saturday.
Arsenal rocked up to the Vitality Stadium last month and suffered the same fate, so Manchester City will have been under no illusion as to what they were walking in to, but they still couldn’t get a foothold in the game.
Suffering back-to-back defeats is always an alarming sound for a Pep Guardiola side, but the performance itself will be dinging the alarm bells louder, as City look to get back to winning ways on Tuesday in Lisbon.
There is still a long season ahead…
Despite what the crisis brigade might suggest, Saturday’s defeat hasn’t got as big of an impact on the title hopes as is being quoted, as we are still in early November in a season that ends in May.
City prolifically have a slow start to the season before finding their feet at the business end, and the injuries in the squad certainly won’t help the chances at finding early season form for the blues.
Being only a quarter of the way through the Premier League campaign, Pep Guardiola will be the most relaxed man in Manchester about his hopes of retaining the title this season.
