Pep Guardiola’s side could still win a trophy treble this season but malfunctions in their pressing game are proving costly
To an extent it doesn’t matter. Manchester City will almost certainly finish second in the Premier League and all defeat to Manchester United did on Sunday was hasten the moment at which Liverpool will be crowned champions. City’s priorities over the next few months lie in the FA Cup, the Champions League and the court of arbitration for sport. But losing to your neighbours three times in a season can never not matter, and there is the wider issue of how City, again, found themselves outmatched by a side that sat deep and countered at pace.
It’s not enough to point out that if Ederson had not made two uncharacteristic gaffes, the game would have finished level. It’s true that the goalkeeper’s mistakes were decisive – and that he got away with another one early in the second half, allowing a backpass to roll under his foot as Anthony Martial closed in – but more significant is the fact that United created opportunity after opportunity by doing little more than have players run very quickly at the gap between Nicolás Otamendi and Oleksandr Zinchenko, a route that should also have led to a penalty before half-time.
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