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.
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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