Five Things Learned: Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City crumbled to a painful late defeat to bitter rivals Manchester United to continue a miserable run of form across all competitions.

Pep Guardiola’s team have put in some poor showings in recent weeks but Sunday’s derby at the Etihad will have left their faithful fans reeling. Coming into the game with just one win in their last ten matches, City extended this embarrassing statistic with an eighth defeat in 11.

The game started as expected with both sides a bit unsure and cautious as the players grew into the game. This deadlock was broken through individual brilliance from Kevin De Bruyne as he whipped the ball into the danger zone following a corner.

Changing direction mid-air, the curve allowed Josko Gvardiol to plant a firm header past Andre Onana in goal who didn’t even flinch. The second half trundled along until disaster struck with just five minutes to go as Matheus Nunes committed a foul in the box and gave away a penalty.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes dispatched the resulting spot kick confidently beyond Ederson, before his side surged into a surprise lead through a quick-fire goal from Amad Diallo.

With the game turned on its head, Manchester City couldn’t react in time to the shock of what had just happened leading to yet another negative result for the club as Pep Guardiola’s side continue to scramble for answers for their poor run of form.

Here are Five Things We Learned from Manchester City’s pathetic collapse against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon!

Title race over

Even the most hopeful Manchester City fans will likely concede that Sunday’s painful derby defeat was the final nail in whatever was left of a potential Premier League title race this season.

Of course, it is not mathematically done and dusted and other teams such as Chelsea and Arsenal are rising a challenge to Liverpool at the top of the division, but it is not even about the points anymore for City.

The team’s mentality stinks at the moment whether that be fatigue from winning so much in previous years during the Pep Guardiola reign, an overconfidence or, and perhaps more likely, a complete loss in belief.

Teams in and around Manchester City keep dropping points here and there, but there is still no way back for Pep Guardiola’s side while they keep crumbling like this and giving away easy goals.

A rebuild is needed throughout the Manchester City squad in 2025, but a change in thinking and belief is the first port of call to get the club out of this rut.

Dull tactics

Manchester City have countless problems throughout the squad at the moment which this article is making no secret of, but one of the most frustrating is the build-up play on show from the reigning Premier League champions.

Pep Guardiola is world-class, make no doubt, but part of being among the best is knowing when to change and when to adapt. City’s style has become predictable and stale with aimless passing building without a clear motive. It doesn’t work and teams see right through it.

The only goal City mustered up was from an aerial ball following a set piece with the team getting no goals in their previous loss either. Much has been made of how injuries have prevented people from playing in the right positions but City’s approach is equally harmful.

It is true that Manchester United posed very little threat but in truth neither did Manchester City and the Premier League champions have looked far from dangerous after the opening day win at Chelsea.

Longest month of the year

Manchester City’s problems are going to continue throughout this month at least and no easy break will be caught as Sunday showed. A below par Manchester United side who offered little to nothing for 85 minutes still managed to beat City.

Until January comes and the club sign some cover, the immediate future looks incredibly bleak. With a tough away game to Aston Villa on the horizon and matches against sides fighting relegation in Everton and Leicester City, it’s difficult to see where the next win comes from.

Injury crisis hits deep

The growing number of injuries has forced Pep Guardiola into some bold decisions this season already as the squad size seemingly diminishes each week. The latest of these alterations was moving Matheus Nunes to left back while Josko Gvardiol played more centrally.

At times this appeared to be working on Sunday but that is more likely down to Manchester United posing little threat throughout the game. The weakness was exposed however as Nunes clattered into Amad Diallo and handed United the penalty which swung the game.

There are many issues affecting the team currently with mentality and individual form important to this but make no mistake that the injuries are costing city dearly.

Goal-getter Gvardiol

With Erling Haaland leading the club’s scoring chart for this season by quite some distance, Manchester City fans have been wondering where else the goals are going to come from in the team.

A somewhat unlikely source but a welcome one is defender Josko Gvardiol who popped up with another one on Sunday. The Croatian has already crucially netted away to Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this campaign.

He’s been quiet in recent games and made a few errors versus Feyenoord but if Guardiola can get Gvardiol more involved in the attacks and set-pieces like in the derby, City may have another source of much-needed goals.