Analysis: Sloppy City pay the price

Pep Guardiola said on Friday that the season started then, following the conclusion of the last international break of the year, but Manchester City are yet to get going since the resumption.

They would have been expected to bounce back after suffering defeat at St James' Park at the weekend, but the Spaniard made a glut of changes to his starting line-up, much to the surprise of most in attendance at Etihad Stadium.

It led to a disjointed showing from the English side and fringe players such as Omar Marmoush, Oscar Bobb and Savinho failed to take the opportunity offered to them in the front three.

Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki were all introduced in the second half as Guardiola attempted to rescue a result, but their run of 13 consecutive home victories against German opposition in this competition abruptly came to a halt.

With three league phase games remaining, this could prove to be a damaging loss for City, dropping them down to sixth in the table. They will find themselves out of the top eight if results go against them in Wednesday's fixtures, dropping at least for now into the places that go into a playoff round rather than straight through to the last 16.