Man City are running out of excuses after 'abysmal' Forest game ends badly

'Abysmal. Awful to watch. Nothing to report.'

The verdicts for Manchester City's first half at Nottingham Forest were not the best, and it felt like the match officials agreed. Two minutes were held up after a stoppage for injury to Matheus Nunes that had gone beyond that on its own, and even then referee Chris Kavanagh (who had a good game) blew early.

Anyone hoping for a thriller at the City Ground between the team who have had the least possession in the Premier League this season and the team that have done the least with it was disappointed. Given the stats though and how the campaign has played out, those people were also deluded.

Pep Guardiola and his side certainly didn't enjoy their previous two trips to this tricky ground, somehow falling to a draw in 2023 after dominating before edging a scratchy win last year on a difficult pitch. And that was when they were Premier League champions.

They still are for now, but won't be for long because too many of their games have been unnecessarily entertaining. Regular mistakes across the backline have dismantled City's aura, as have defeats to Spurs, Liverpool, Brighton, Bournemouth and the rest.

It's not clear what has been more surprising this season: Forest being above City at this point, or Forest being above City after losing to them comfortably 3-0 in December.

Nobody could have predicted in August that the Premier League champions would be below a side that only came back up to the division in 2022 come March, but certainly not after a routine 3-0 win at the Etihad. That looked to be City putting their troubles behind them, but the result disguised that the problems that would linger.

Kevin De Bruyne was the architect of that 3-0 win and his return from