Kevin De-Bruyne Mateo Kovacic Nathan Ake Cole Palmer James Macatee Rico Lewis Usa Japan South Korea county Green Arsenal blues show UPS performer COST Kevin De-Bruyne Mateo Kovacic Nathan Ake Cole Palmer James Macatee Rico Lewis Usa Japan South Korea county Green

Lewis shines but Phillips wastes opportunity - Man City winners and losers from pre-season

manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Two wins and a defeat is a decent return from three weather-affected pre-season outings for Manchester City in Asia. After Pep Guardiola mainly used completely different outfield sides in each half against Yokohama and Bayern Munich, he gave his starting lineup an hour against Atletico Madrid before wholesale changes.

Only then did the makeshift XI look disjointed and concede the two goals that would cost City the final friendly. In Japan, the stifling heat ensured that 45 minutes was realistically the most that players could manage, before the conditions in South Korea were considerably worse for building fitness.

Not only was it somehow even hotter in Seoul, but a pre-match deluge put the pitch underwater and the resulting game was played without injury doubts Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake and Cole Palmer.

Rico Lewis stood out against Bayern, James McAtee scored his first senior goal, and Mateo Kovacic looked good in his first outings in Sky Blue.

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Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji (R) fights for the ball with Atletico Madrid’s Memphis Depay (C) during their friendly football match between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on July 30, 2023. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

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