Got the result we need but we made it unnecessarily difficult. Yes we were unfortunate not to have scored a few first half but I don't get why we played the entire second half in 2nd gear like we were 5-0 up and just seeing the game out, we had almost no intent on actually trying to score a second and put the game to bed which is always incredibly risky. No forward passes, sane/sterling both unwilling to run with the ball or behind for a pass, too much backwards and sideways passing just for the sake of keeping the ball until we eventually gave it away through sloppiness/Walker being walker.
Bernardo was again superb, only one of the midfield today excluding fernandinho who actually closed players down with intent and put a foot on the ball, and then looked to penetrate with his forward passes on the ball, David Silva and Gundogan were both far too passive and content with just getting back into position without the ball, which allowed them to come onto us far more than were used to. Kdb coming on finally brought a bit of aggressiveness into the midfield and all of a sudden we started to win the ball back further up the field and allowed us to see the Injury time out in their half. David Silva is currently in the worst form of his entire city career, shouldn't play Sunday, Kdb and Bernardo in the middle, Sane Sterling out wide.
Laporte looked very reliable at left back again, surely he plays there in all the tougher games from now on until Mendy is fully fit, delph/danilo/zinchenko can play there at home against the lesser sides but other than that, Laporte has to be there.
All in all, job done, keep the pressure up and be better on Sunday.
