The second half was only three minutes old when Phil Foden found himself in a familiar position in a Manchester derby.
The Manchester City midfielder has left many an imprint on this fixture in recent years but, presented with an inviting opportunity to put his side ahead eight yards out, he stumbled as he shaped to shoot.
Noussair Mazraoui, in turn, was able to intercept and poke the ball away. Initially, it looked as though the Manchester United defender may have caught Foden from behind. But replays revealed Foden had simply lost his footing and balance and, with it, went City’s best chance of scoring in a game decidedly low on quality, imagination, fire, pace, tempo and a whole lot in between.
Foden’s difficult afternoon would not last much longer. Ten minutes later, the board went up and off City’s disconsolate-looking No 47 trudged.
He has tormented United so often that the home fans seemed to revel in his misfortune, although Pep Guardiola was right to condemn the shameful, classless chants that accompanied his substitution.
There is no love lost between these two neighbours but it was deeply unedifying to hear a member of Foden’s family being subjected to abuse. That the City manager later called it out was to his credit.
There were also some reassuring words from Guardiola about Foden’s form, which he suggested was symptomatic of the team’s wider struggles more than anything else. He also backed Foden to bounce back. Both sentiments were justified.
But there was no denying City were a shadow here of the team that won six of the past seven Premier League titles, just as Foden was a shadow of the midfielder who enjoyed a clean sweep of the individual awards as the competition’s outstanding player last season.
He had scored six goals against United across four league games in the previous two campaigns and so often looked to be playing on a different level entirely to his opponents.
On Sunday, he was struggling just to find his own team-mates. All told, Foden lost possession on 14 occasions and completed only 61 per cent of his passes.
He lost all five of the duels he contested and did not manage a ...
