'Not just the team struggling - individual players are too'

If the build-up to this game was all about Ruben Amorim and his impending move, much of the aftermath will be centred around Pep Guardiola and his team.

The injury issues City are wrestling with meant Jahmai Simpson-Pusey was handed his first senior start in central defence, less than a week after his first-team debut. Simpson-Pusey only turned 19 the day before the game and he was given a baptism of fire by hat-trick hero Viktor Gyokeres, who used all his experience to full effect.

The City boss has said this season will be "a struggle". That prediction is already coming true.

To help him out, he needs his senior players to have an impact. Phil Foden did so when he drove home his fourth goal of the season to set City on course for what seemed certain to be an easy win.

But early chances to double the advantage came and went and City were swept away by two goals in four minutes at the start of the second half.

Normally, a response would be expected. Had Erling Haaland converted his penalty, it might have come. The Norwegian has now failed to score in four of his last six games.

It is not just City as a whole who are struggling, individual players are too.