Bournemouth 2-1 Man City: Post-match reaction

ManchesterWorld

Michael Plant gives his verdict from the Vitality as Manchester City lose 2-1 Bournemouth and suffer a first Premier League defeat in nearly a year.

Transcript

00:00Bournemouth 2 Manchester City 1 here at the Vitality Stadium today a result I

00:05didn't really predict beforehand although there were a few City fans who

00:08were a bit nervous coming into this game understandably so because Bournemouth

00:12picked up results against Arsenal and Aston Villa in the last two weeks and

00:16they made it three Champions League sides in a row they've managed to take

00:18points from in successive weeks in a performance that you have to say it was

00:23absolutely fantastic Bournemouth absolutely fully deserved the three

00:27points here today they beat City in every department and really from start

00:30to finish with a better team it took Man City until the 80th minute to register

00:34a shot on target I think that probably in itself tells the story but Bournemouth

00:38their direct attacking was fantastic some of the long balls into their

00:42attackers and proved really really difficult for City to deal with I

00:46thought Antoine Semenu in the wide areas repeatedly just pushed them back with

00:50some rapid counter-attacks physically you know they just didn't give City a

00:54second on the ball they just didn't give City an opportunity to play the

00:58pressing was outstanding and at times as well they got the ball down and knocked

01:02it about and played some really nice short passing football it was really the

01:06perfect performance I think from a side going up against City and of course

01:09today's defeat means that City have now lost for the first time in 33 matches

01:14it ends that 32 game unbeaten run that stretches all the way back to December

01:19last year it's the first game in 2024 in the Premier League that City have lost

01:22they've now of course lost two games in the space of four days having previously

01:26not lost a single game in all competitions this season but that

01:29Carabao Cup defeat coupled with today's loss means that it is a slightly

01:32alarming run of form for City and means that with Liverpool's win as well they

01:36also dropped to second place in the Premier League table now the schedule

01:40and fitness and fatigue has been talked about a lot over the last couple of

01:43weeks and injuries with Guardiola and there was a couple of surprises today with

01:46Walker coming back with Manuel Akanji coming back into the team

01:51De Bruyne was on the bench, Doku was on the bench but really City are struggling at the

01:55moment with the number of absentees and the number of just the players missing

01:59and they added to that list with John Stones and Ruben Diaz missing out today

02:03Diaz is gonna be out till after the international break Guardiola confirmed

02:07post-match and there are look I mean as well as Bournemouth played I think there are

02:11some concerning trends that are developing with City I mean they keep

02:15conceding the first goal in half of the Premier League games this season they've

02:18conceded the first goal it automatically means you're just giving

02:21yourself a bit of a an uphill task to deal with they also are struggling to

02:24keep clean sheets that's just two in ten Premier League matches now and overall I

02:28just think that they are struggling to deal with counter-attacks as well I asked

02:31Guardiola about that after the game and I think he felt there was other factors

02:34that were more decisive today but it is a common theme and they're also

02:37struggling to maybe I'd say control games as much I think that a lot of that

02:40is down to Rodri in his absence he's been such a vital player for them for a

02:44long time now look he's this week voted the best player in the world so he

02:47obviously is does have a huge impact and at the moment City aren't at the best I

02:50don't think there's a huge amount of concern and they are listen within

02:53touching distance of top players at this stage of the season so I don't think

02:57anyone be particularly concerned and City have done it before drop points at

03:01this stage of the season and come back to win the title and they're certainly

03:03more than capable of that I don't think anyone will question that at the same time

03:06they do need to get a handle on these results these performances try and get a

03:10few players back and get back to the City that we've seen so often over the

03:13last couple of years but certainly a day to remember for Bournemouth as the

03:16fireworks go over go up above my shoulder there they were fantastic

03:20fully deserved their three points their first ever victory over Man City and one

03:23that they certainly enjoyed

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