Pep can't hide his alarm as Haaland and City fluff their lines-again

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

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

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 team-mate of James Mc Atee 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.