Thursday 6 November 2014 11:06, UK
Manchester City’s drab performance during Wednesday’s 2-1 Champions League defeat to CSKA Moscow shows how far they have dropped from their previously imperious selves, according to Graeme Souness.
City slumped to a devastating defeat after Seydou Doumbia’s two first half strikes clinched victory for the Russians who saw out the game against nine men, after midfield duo Fernandinho and Yaya Toure saw red.
You saw people go absent, people who didn’t want the ball. Half of that team didn’t want the ball tonight. That team a few months ago looked like a team of world class players and one which might dominate English football.
In a game which arguably hinged on a number of pivotal refereeing decisions, Souness moved quickly to dispel any notion that City could consider themselves to be hard done by and, instead, launched a scathing assessment of their domestic and European campaigns.
"The mark of big players is that they want the ball all the time, even when the roof is caving in and you didn't see that from City tonight," Souness told Sky Sports.
“You saw people go absent, people who didn’t want the ball. Half of that team didn’t want the ball tonight. That team a few months ago looked like a team of world-class players and one which might dominate English football.
“That team, in a very short space of time, have taken one almighty step backwards. It’s a shadow of the team you saw last year.”
Toure, who misses City’s next fixture with Bayern Munich following his red card, was singled out by Souness for failing to prevent CSKA's first goal and argued the Ivorian could have no complaints at his dismissal.
“Toure is not within four yards of the player when he heads the ball. That’s how much asleep he was - he wasn’t within four yards of Doumbia scoring that goal,” Souness added.
“Yaya cannot complain about the sending off. It’s a full hit on the side of his face and he pushes him over, and then complains that he’s getting a card.
“There’s no argument. It’s ill-discipline and that’s been borne out of frustration for the game not going your way. And he’s cost his team the next time they play in Europe – if they’re still in there.”
Fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp also criticised City's approach to what was a must-win fixture.
“At times I thought they were diabolical - world class players making elementary mistakes,” he said.
“They never got started or got out of the blocks, they never went to close down, and they never won a second ball. It was quite staggering to see. This is a team who hasn’t won a game so far in this Champions League campaign and needs to win so it was beyond belief.
“Yaya Toure was bending over and stretching [moments before Doumbia’s opener], not concentrating and that summed the whole 90 minutes up for me.”
