Manchester City’s worst loss of the Pep Guardiola era took place on Sunday afternoon with a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Everton. The Toffees are by no means a poor side, but the way City looked completely lethargic and lifeless especially in the second half must be concerning. There’s a lot of question marks around key positions in this squad. City seem incapable of keeping a clean sheet which just puts extra pressure on the attackers.
A permanent thorn in City’s side, Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring in the first half on Everton’s first shot on target. This came after City squandered a few very good chances of their own, some poor touches from Raheem Sterling and David Silva meant City were behind after the first half.
The second half was a complete deconstruction of what was once a title challenger. Everton looked ready to play and City looked completely lifeless. After the game, Guardiola said to forget about the Premier League title because the ten-point gap to leaders Chelsea is just too big, and this writer has to agree with Pep. Ten points is way too much for this current City squad with such big holes in it.
Below are the player ratings for this embarrassment of a match, there will be no City Man of the Match even though there was one good performer for City.
Claudio Bravo: 4.0
Claudio Bravo was supposed to be the answer for City between the sticks, a good keeper with his hands and feet. Someone with World Cup and Copa America pedigree. Now the Chilean should be in danger of losing his job to Willy Caballero.
Bacary Sagna: 6.0
The Frenchman did what he could trying to put out fires all over City’s backline Sunday. It wasn't the worst performance from a City fullback this season but there was nothing particularly outstanding either.
John Stones: 4.5
This was always going to be a tough game for John Stones and I think his nerves showed on nearly every touch of the ball. Hopefully for City supporters Stones can develop into the player City thought they were buying, because his performance at Goodison was unacceptable.
Nicolas Otamendi: 5.0
Otamendi continues to put in good tackles that draw applause and then wildly lunge in and totally miss the ball. At least Otamendi knows when to pump the ball away instead of turning the ball over, but the Argentine can be better than this as well.
Gaël Clichy: 3.5
Just when I thought we were turning a corner with the veteran French defender, Clichy put in an awful performance. Constant giveaways and poor defensive positioning were his lowlights on Sunday.
Pablo Zabaleta: 5.0
Zabaleta will always be a fan favorite at City but he looked way off the pace in this one. City must assess their depth without the suspended Fernandinho.
Yaya Touré: 5.5
There are certain things Touré does very well. Possession, passing, and holding off defenders are some of these things. What Touré cannot or does not do well is track back and put in needed tackles at his position.
David Silva: 6.5
Silva went thought points of domination and invisibility during this game. Sometimes he was working magic on the ball, but other times you’d be forgiven if you forgot he was on the pitch.
Raheem Sterling: 6.0
Sterling was alright going forward, but it seemed the big occasion and early deficit might have gotten to the young Englishman.
Kevin De Bruyne: 7.5
Often the team's best player, De Bruyne was the one City man who had a decent game and looked very good attacking down the left. It’ll be interesting to see what Guardiola does with him when Gabriel Jesus is available.
Sergio Agüero: 5.5
The Argentine never got into the game as he was starved for touches for most of it. Ashley Williams did a very good job marking Agüero in this one.
Kelechi Iheanacho: 5.5
Iheanacho made no difference when brought on.