Pep Guardiola disbelief and home chants spell more Man City trouble

Boxing Day comes once a year but Manchester City cannot escape Groundhog Day this season.

Players dropping out of the squad like flies? Yep. Promising attacking play falling short of putting the ball in the net? Yep. A comfortable performance wrecked in an instant by the opposition's first meaningful attack? Yep, yep, yep.

Everton arrived at the Etihad as the least clinical side in the Premier League, converting just six per cent of their shots. Iliman Ndiaye, a teammate of James McAtee at Sheffield United two years ago in the Championship, instead gave Bernardo Silva a lesson in shooting as City gave up more easy points in the Premier League

Pep Guardiola had been determined to focus on the positives after their limp defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday, and after giving players time off and the chance to spend Christmas Day morning with their loved ones, it was hoped that the cheer would spread. Except from the moment they turned up at the stadium with eight senior pros missing, sickness for Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan, and five academy players on the bench, it was another instance of City doing damage to themselves before a ball had been kicked.

Even the players had been pleading for the club to sign some more players in January, Guardiola said in a pre-match interview where the manager said again they have to add more players if they can. It may not be easy but as much as the injury situation is unlucky in the extreme the longer the crisis goes out the less certain players can be relied upon going forward.

Silva has been one of the few that have been available throughout City's wretched run of nine defeats in 12 games, and Guardiola came to his defence after the Villa game in the face of criticism. It felt like