The team defended our goal with bravery. We kept things compact, and we will be difficult to score against. When playing City, or playing away, defending your goal is an essential ingredient of a good team. What we were not able to do is play through midfield well enough or transition from defending into any sort of possession.
The most concerning thing about today was it was highly reminiscent of Mourinho. The logic from Mourinho was correct however, you have to build a strong defensive foundation to any team. And so Nuno is doing the right thing too. With Mourinho, we went top of the league and seemed to stop progressing. We became precious and thought we could sit-in, defend and break all season. But what we needed to do was build upon the defensive foundation and work on our passing and transitioning from defense into possession. It is fine to try and break and attack quickly, but when that is not on, you need to be able to keep the ball, and not just give it back right away to the opposition. You need to be able to control games by holding the ball too.
I think we desperately need a commanding CM, and maybe a commanding CB too. We don't know what Romero will be like, but at 23 he will likely need a more experienced head beside him. In midfield, if Ndombele won't step up, we need someone who can shield the ball and make passes stick in tight areas.
A phenomenal start from Nuno. Hopefully he knows what needs to be done now. I hope he is braver than Mourinho and builds upon a good defensive foundation rather than defaults to it.