As Manchester City went down to a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium you had the suspicion that everything finally caught up to Pep Guardiola’s side yesterday. Although Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku all returned to the City squad it was clear that the champions were running on fumes. Finally, those fumes ran out as Bournemouth picked up a well-deserved victory.
First of all, credit must go to Bournemouth for their performance at the Vitality Stadium. The hosts thoroughly deserved their victory. Andoni Iraola’s side had the perfect game plan to get at a tired Manchester City side. Goals from Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson saw the Cherries pick up their first-ever Premier League victory over the world champions. Although City pulled a goal back through Josko Gvardiol and finished with a late flurry the hosts deservedly picked up all three points.
But from a Manchester City point of view, it did look like everything finally caught up to Pep Guardiola’s side. It was clear from kickoff that Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake were under-done. They both deserve credit for putting their hands up to play. But they were both well below their best. That’s understandable, especially in Kyle Walker’s case. Pep Guardiola revealed post-game that Walker had only trained once before starting yesterday’s match. That isn’t the ideal preparation for any player to play, let alone against a hungry and determined opponent. Walker and Ake weren’t the only City players playing under duress yesterday. A team can only do that for so long before it catches up to them. Yesterday it did for Manchester City at the Vitality Stadium.
It is no secret that Manchester City are dealing with an injury crisis. Ruben Dias and John Stones have now joined City’s injury list. The champions also took in underdone players yesterday, and that told as the game wore on. It had appeared pre-game that Manchester City were up against it before yesterday’s game, and come the final whistle, it looked like everything finally caught up to the champions.
There is no rest for the champions as they have Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League next. But after everything finally caught up to the champions yesterday, you do wonder what condition the champions will be in for their trip to Portugal.