Three Man City players from Manchester United debacle start for U21s as new striker option emerges

At tea-time on Sunday, three Manchester City academy players had front row seats to Pep Guardiola's latest dressing room inquest.

City have proudly let cameras inside the inner sanctum of the Etihad for their four consecutive title-winning seasons, using the more negative results to sell the documentaries, shape the narrative and show the relentless nature of Guardiola and his players. They are the best bits, although the editors of the current season's documentary may have a busier job to tell a positive story after the current run of defeats, collapses and mistakes.

That is a conversation to be had at the end of the season, however. For now, the show goes on as Guardiola says, and a number of players he has used this term got some much-needed game-time for the under-21s just 24 hours after the derby collapse.

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Nico O'Reilly is a first-team player these days after his starring turn in the USA this summer. He has four appearances to his name including a Community Shield start in defensive midfield against Manchester United at Wembley. In an ideal world, he would have played more than his 10 academy games, but has been needed to assist the first team from the bench on 15 occasions already. He has been in all but five matchday squads in the Premier League but is yet to make his league debut.

With City having a free midweek for the first time since September, O'Reilly was able to get his first match action in a month as the under-21s took on Nottingham Forest on Monday in Premier League 2. That is the downside of being a first team player at his age - you can