I thought after the last 15 minutes of the first half, that we were very resilient and did threaten, and I thought … Bring on the second half!

Then our defence showed their true mettle.
How much space did Jake O’Brien think he could give O’Rielly to dare him to cross the ball?

With Tarkowski behind him marking nobody and never realising that the marauding Haaland was on his own, only a few feet away.
Who up until that point kept a relatively low profile.
Behind Him there was Keane and Behind him again there was the very anonymous Mykolenko.. all in front of the lone Haaland!

if O’Brien advances a couple of feet, he invites Orielly to take an extra few steps and gives our Ball watchers more time to cut out the Danger.

I wonder how many steps Takowski got in Today?
As for Alcaraz ; one good cameo in the last game, doesn’t mean he’s going to rip it up in the next.
This has been the case so far with him., and a lot of our players, who flatter to deceive!
They drift in and out of games and are simply not consistent or professional enough.

On a more positive note, Ndiaye had an outstanding game and seems to be the only one who can have an end product.

Rohl looked like he could be useful.
But, then again, it was only a Cameo and I’ve become very wary of good cameos.
i seem to remember that Chermitti had a couple !
Well! To be fair, We are in a better position than 12 months ago and the ship seems to have steadied itself.
But, I can’t help thinking, that some players may think that they are putting in a better shift than others.

Blah. Haaland. Without him would they have won that? Without him and if we had Grealish would we have snatched something from that?
Blah.

After watching Coleman for Ireland, I’m perplexed by the continued selection of O’Brien.

If he was a young right-back that Moyes felt needed game time to grow into the role, then I’d see some sense in it.

But Jake is never going to be a right-back and he’s getting no exposure to playing centre back.

Get Seamus in there versus Spurs.

Shane.

Personally, I would prefer ( only for this match !), Garner at RB and O’Brien in for Torkowski.

If Branthwite is fit, I would like to see, Jake, Keane, Braithwaite, Mykolenko.

I would try every combination to keep Tarkowsky out.

He hasn’t had a good season until now and I think Keane has proven more reliable. Yesterday he was sleepwalking.

In the event of no Branthwaite, Rohl could perhaps cover for garner. He seemed ok yesterday

Jekyll and Hyde. But as time honoured, Everton to a very strong degree, were the cause of their downfall.

City are professional and done the job. But Everton, can take some heart and Ilie was superb.

Beto tries hard, but can't finish, and the RB and LB slots need fixing in January.

Jake is targeted by every team, and I'd take the loss of Garner in midfield to RB, in the interim.

Spurs will be tough. But Everton, can beat them.

Dig out the archive footage of Lineker and Latchford and show them at Finch Farm, to Beto, and Barry.

I'm optimistic for next week and Everton will turn up. City away is not the sum of this season and is a measure of how far Everton have improved and showed the gulf in class in the players, yesterday that City have. But a few of Evertons, are as good.

Tough season ahead. But year on year, its far better.

I thought our general play was fine until we fell behind. Ndiaye made some fantastic dribbles and really tested Donnarruma with that shot just before the interval.

It was frustrating we were unable to grab a goal especially from the opportunity missed by Beto. All strikers miss chances however, as Haaland proved in the final minutes when he might not only have completed his hat-trick but also have added another couple for good measure. Our problem is we do not create many chances, so against the best teams we are heavily dependent on converting the few we do.

I was also disappointed at some of the decisions made by our players. Examples included Pickford choosing to clip two high clearances to Mykolenko standing on the touchline level with his own penalty area. What exactly was the Ukrainian expected to do with them? Early in the second half we saw Alcaraz firing a quick free kick straight to a City player at a point when we really needed a minute to draw breath. Moyes showed what he thought throwing his arms in the air in despair. Then Dewsbury-Hall lofted a long free kick straight into the hands of a six feet five inches keeper. It was also frustrating to witness several long diagonal balls sailing straight out of play, Tarkowski and Gana among the culprits.

Taken in isolation these details appear trivial but they hint at some sloppiness in the ranks which we can ill afford against any opponents, least of all those near the top of the league.

John, your points about our wasted set-pieces are well made. We have one of the biggest sides in the division but I’m struggling to think of more than a couple of instances this season where we’ve troubled teams directly from a dead-ball delivery or made the second phase count apart from Michael Keane’s excellent header against West Ham.

You only have to look at Arsenal’s well-choreographed corners — can we not bring the near-post flick-on back into our repertoire?! — or United’s winner at Liverpool this weekend to see the trick we’re missing by wasting such opportunities.

I’d hoped that without McNeil in the team, we could at least rely on Dewsbury-Hall from free-kicks and corners but, on the whole, he just seems to find the goalkeeper’s gloves every time.

I don’t actually want us to be a team that relies on set-pieces — and don’t get me started on our reliance on the long ball from Pickford — but against superior opposition like City, they can be a valuable weapon.

Good responsible report Lyndon.

I say responsible because I've had to ditch Everton websites since the match on Saturday. I found some of the bile written by so called Evertonians to be utterly stomach churning. One editor even decided to report to his membership that Beto and Haarland had two chances each - "No contest" he told them....WTF is that about ? Was it an attempt to mislead people who were not able see the game ? A poor report from somebody who doesnt quite understand what he is watching ? or was it just a deliberately sensational headline designed to whip up anger among an already angry membership ? What ever the reasons. The reporting is totally false - although it did create the desired pile on and is a theme which has spread online amongst many blues.

Beto and Barry are struggling. Neither supremely gifted with the football. They are not in Haalands league (players like him cost more than we can afford), but the facts are harsh enough without exaggeration or outright lies. I saw Beto have one attempt where he was straining every muscle, but couldnt quite reach a ball fizzed across the goal by Ndiaye sufficiently enough to turn it over the line. A chance, but hardly a sitter. Then we have the other "chance". The one where he had already (rightly) been flagged as offside. In what world can that be considered a missed chance ?

Those who actually watched the game will tell you Haarland had FIVE gilt edged chances and in truth he didnt have to work that hard for them. They were created for him and as John Rafterty mentions. Therein lies the problem. If Haaland misses a chance(and he often does) He can simply shrug his shoulders because he knows there will be another one coming along any minute. Our strikers are never that fortunate. The knowledge that they will be lucky if they get one chance has to create an added pressure. The howls and the exaggeration which follow every half chance our strikers don't take generally come from people attacking the symptom rather than understanding the problem and looking for a cure and they cant possibly help the striker when it comes to the next chance.

We're improving, but we are not yet at a point where we`re regularly create several chances. City had SEVEN chances. All easier to convert than anything Beto saw.

I thought we had a good go for long periods on Saturday and I will take encouragement from that.

BTW; anyone who watched the Palace game would have seen their center forward score a headline grabbing hatrick,They would also have seen him miss four howling sitters. I doubt Beto and Barry have had that many chances between them all season

Wudda, cudda, shudda.
Here's wishing Beto better luck.
The chances Haaland had, loads. His second goal was a poor shot, only scored after it clipped Tarky's heel to divert past Pickford.
Beto is capable of scoring a decent haul of goals as he showed last season.
Needs a change of luck as well as more chances.
Bring on Tottenham Hotspur.
May they be slain on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey.

I'm afraid comparing the merits of Haaland and our strikers is, to a degree missing the point. Just concentrate on Haaland and the space he was given in the final third for the answer. He was given the freedom of the park. That is why he scored his goals and why we were beaten fair and square. Until we eliminate that basic error he, along with other top class strikers, are going to leave us with NIL points. We have got to tighten up our defence and that, to a degree, is down to Moyes initially but the players, all experienced, should be more aware and do it themselves without being prompted.

Yes, our strikers leave alot to be desired but they are in a diffferent class to Haaland, and overall Man City, and cannot be compared to him for his commendable bullying style. I wish we had a Haarland.

Good try first half then the carthorses gave out and it was goodnight Vienna.