Victor Gyokeres bagged a hattrick as Manchester City slumped to a heavy defeat in Lisbon. The Blues had led through Phil Foden, but Gyokeres drew Sporting level late in the first half.
The home side were 3-1 up just a few minutes after the break thanks to an awful few minutes from City, in which they left Sporting cut through them like a hot knife through butter for the second goal and conceded a soft penalty a minute later to effectively kill the game.
Gyokeres completed his hattrick with another spot kick to round off a miserable night for City, which saw their long UEFA Champions League unbeaten run ended.
Here are three things we learned from City’s humiliating defeat to Sporting:
The defence…
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Throughout the match, City actually played alright in terms of keeping the ball, progressing it through the thirds and even their high pressing was mostly good.
But the second Sporting turned the ball over, they seemed to have the freedom of the park to rampage forward and walk through the backline at will.
Even 20 seconds into the first half, Sporting looked like they had a counter attack straight from kick off even though all of City’s players were in position.
The midfield looks to be lacking legs without Rodri and the defenders almost always seem to be out of position.
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey had a decent game, but is inexperienced at the top level. Manuel Akanji isn’t fully fit yet, Josko Gvardiol had a poor outing and Rico Lewis’s positioning means he’s constantly dragged out of position.
Ruben Dias and John Stones’ injuries will help City improve in this regard, but more of an overhaul will be needed, particularly in the summer, to help City get back to their standards of old.
Business is needed in January
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As mentioned above, it’d be foolish of City to not sign at least one player in January.
It’s becoming impossible to ignore the fact that the squad is stretched to the next level, and I’d argue signings are needed in midfield and up front.
Realistically, however, City aren’t going to sign a midfielder of anything like the quality of Rodri in the January transfer window.
Martin Zubimendi would be the pipe dream, but he’d be best to target in the summer as the first signing under new sporting director Hugo Viana.
Signing a backup striker as a Julian Alvarez replacement does look to be more realistic however.
Kyogo Furuhashi from Celtic was targeted last summer and has started the season exceptionally well for his club, so that could be an option City go down again in the January window.
January isn’t usually a window City chooses to explore with the last signing of note being Aymeric Laporte in 2018, but this year it appears they’ll have no choice but to dive into the window.
Noel Gallagher makes a good co-commentator
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On a positive note (and away from the footballing side of things) it was refreshing to hear the voice of Noel Gallagher in the TNT Sports commentary box fighting in the blue corner.
The 57 year old offered good insight from a punditry point of view as well as speaking openly and honestly about City without being hyperbolic or over critical.
In a world where the only real City media representatives are Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Joe Hart and Nedum Onuoha, the Oasis guitarist has made himself a refreshing alternative option to represent City in the odd game when he’s not otherwise occupied with his musical commitments.
Some might say (I’m sorry, but I had to put a pun in) that he shouldn’t be given the job as he’s not a former pro, but I’ve always felt you don’t have to have played the game at a very high level to be able to talk about the game intelligently, which Gallagher does.
His inclusion on the show was a shining light in an evening of darkness from a City experience, and something we’ll hopefully see more in the future.
