Bernardo Silva delivered a scathing assessment of Manchester City’s performance against Manchester United, saying they “played like Under-15s” in throwing away a lead to lose the derby in dramatic fashion.
Pep Guardiola’s out-of-form side were on course for a much-needed victory in a low-quality game at the Etihad Stadium only for United to score twice in two minutes to turn the contest on its head.
First, Bruno Fernandes scored from the penalty spot after Matheus Nunes felled Amad in the box before Amad himself profited from more poor defending to score what would be the winner just 54 seconds after the restart.
Defeat means the defending champions have won just one of their last 11 games with Bernardo under no illusions as to where the blame lies — themselves.
“We deserved what happened,” he told Sky Sports. “At this level a game or two is unlucky. We can’t say this is lucky or unlucky — 10 games it’s not about that.
“Minute 87 in a derby, winning 1-0 and our corner ends in a penalty for them, if we make these stupid decisions with three or four minutes to go you deserve to pay for that. Looking at the game I think there was only one team that could win the game, but at the end we lost.
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“It’s not one game, it’s a lot of games lately. We have to look at ourselves. You can say ‘oh that’s a bit unlucky’, no. It’s the decisions you make. Today in the last minute we played like Under-15s.
“We don’t want them to happen. It’s a bit frustrating because if you look at the game until (the) 86th minute there was only one team that could win the game. Then from a corner for Man City, you leave a centre back, Ruben stayed, but we end up with the ball at our keeper. There’s no excuse for that.”
City’s dismal run has included a remarkable eight defeats. They now sit nine points off the pace in the Premier League title race and outside the top four and the automatic Champions League qualification places.
There is plenty of blame to go around with Bernardo — a winner of six Premier League titles during his seven years at the club — not afraid to name names.
“When it happens in 10 games, we have to look at ourselves and see what we can do better,” Bernardo added. “There needs to be communication for us to play short or to keep the ball in the corner or something.
🗣️ “Today, the last minutes we played like Under 15s.”
Bernardo Silva says Manchester City “totally deserved” the defeat to Manchester United 🔊 pic.twitter.com/zLWFhyUETH
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 15, 2024
“At least if the ball ends up with one of our midfielders, just put it in the corner. Not put yourself under pressure. It’s not just the pass from Matheus to the keeper. It’s everything, how the ball ends up from Ruben (Dias) to Matheus and Kyle (Walker) we have to do better. Be more experienced, smarter, at this level even if you’re better than the opponent. You deserve to lose the game.
“It’s quite normal that we’re not very happy at the minute. Not just this game but the last month. We have to do better individually and collectively because it’s not the standards of Manchester City.”
City will next be in action when they travel to Aston Villa next weekend.
(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
