MATCH REPORT AND PLAYER RATINGS - MANCHESTER CITY 2-2 CRYSTAL PALACE

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Manchester City dropped yet more points in the Premier League, as they conceded two late goals against a poor Crystal Palace side to draw in a game they dominated from start to finish.

From the very first whistle, Palace was camped in their own half as City probed going forwards. They controlled the game in exactly the way manager Pep Guardiola would have wanted them to, playing safe passes and exhausting the opposition by moving the ball around.

They took the lead through Jack Grealish, who ran in on Phil Foden's slipped through ball to slide past the goalkeeper and score in three consecutive Premier League games for the first time in his career.

The Blues continued to dominate, but the first signs of their defensive weaknesses showed just before the half time break, as a simple long ball over the top saw Jean-Phillipe Mateta racing through on goal. He just beat Ederson to the loose ball, meaning the Brazilian goalkeeper wiped Mateta out.

Thankfully, seeing as he was going for the ball and Mateta wouldn't have had a clear goalscoring opportunity had he successfully rounded Ederson, he was only shown a yellow card. Michael Olise, a man heavily linked to City in the summer, came close with the subsequent free kick grazing the roof of the net.

Just after the resumption of play for the second half, City, who came flying out of the blocks straight away, thought they'd doubled the lead as Alvarez's fierce wide freekick travelled all the way past goalkeeper Dean Henderson and nestled in at the far post. However, Rodri was adjudged to be offside and interfering in the middle, meaning the referee's initial decision to rule the goal out was not to be overturned by VAR.

But City did have a second goal shortly after that, as Rico Lewis finished low to the keeper's right inside the penalty area for his first Premier League goal. The 19 year old was clearly delighted as he celebrated, as his teammates gathered around him in the corner flag.

Just for a few seconds, however, City switched off, which is happening all too often this season. Marc Guehi's long ball found Jeffrey Schlupp running in behind, who was able to hold off Ruben Dias and squeeze a cross through to Mateta, who was able to poke into an empty net in the six yard box.

City regathered themselves exceptionally however, and controlled the game with patience and preciseness. They kept the ball very well, and with just four minutes of injury time indicated, it appeared that they'd seen things out.

But after a misplaced pass by the otherwise sublime Phil Foden giving Palace one last chance to attack, Foden, trying to make amends, ended up committing a daft foul inside the penalty area for a Palace spot kick, just seconds after Bernardo Silva appeared to have been fouled by Mateta on the far side.

But, after a brief VAR check, the referee's decision was upheld, and Olise was able to send Ederson the wrong way and ensure Palace came away with what was an undeserved point from the Etihad Stadium.

Just one win in six Premier League games is a poor record for any Premier League team, no matter their position in the table. City are in arguably their worst run of form ever under Pep Guardiola, in terms of results collected. But it can't be denied by any rational individual that City aren't currently playing good football.

Since the return of Grealish, who impressed yesterday playing in a more central position in possession, City have had no issues with controlling the game. Creating chances has been a bit of an issue (particularly against Palace) but that's understandable with their key playmaker and focal point in Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland out injured.

Both Haaland and De Bruyne should be back shortly, although it may take a little while for the latter to get up to full fitness. Both of those players will hugely boost City's chances of getting back to their best, as they can both come up with moments of quality to get results over the line.

The main concern for me is defensively. I believe that City's defence is the worst it's been for a long time - even worse than the 2019/20 season, where ageing defensive midfielder Fernandinho was often deployed at centre back as City finished 18 points behind eventual champions Liverpool.

And this is hugely surprising; City's defence last season was arguably the best in Europe, and all that's changed is bringing in Josko Gvardiol for Aymeric Laporte, who was primarily used as a squad player in the second half of the season.

Perhaps Gvardiol - a young, new player playing in an unfamiliar position in an unfamiliar league - is the source of City's problems? He has certainly been struggling at left back recently; his tendency to leap out of position will often leave City exposed on counter attacks.

Gvardiol is also similar to a young John Stones in the way he's often overconfident with his passing ability. But Gvardiol is younger than Stones was when he joined City, and is already a better player than that young version of the English international. If he continues that progress, then he's bound to be an excellent servant for the club in the long term.

It must also be stressed that blaming the defensive issues on just one young player is outrageously unfair. Usually dependable players in Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker have been very poor in recent matches (although I think that both of them actually performed well against Palace, and were solid for the most part.)

And some of the blame lies further up the pitch too. Rodri often looks isolated when teams break through midfield, as he perhaps misses having a more defensive minded player such as Ilkay Gundogan as his midfield partner.

Mateo Kovacic was excellent against Luton Town recently, and Rodri has said before in an interview that he enjoys playing alongside the 29 year old. Given he's the most similar player to Gundogan in the squad, perhaps it'd be wise for Kovacic to have a run in the team for the foreseeable future so City can shore up a little bit from a defensive point of view, whilst also not losing out on any element of control in midfield.

As it is, Liverpool's goalless draw at home to Manchester United means the league table is looking much more friendly towards City. The Blues remain in fourth place, but with Arsenal and Liverpool playing each other next week, that'll provide the perfect opportunity for City to make up some ground on one or both of those teams.

But the main focus for the club in the next few days will be the FIFA Club World Cup. The squad - led by club captain Kevin de Bruyne - have arrived in Jeddah to represent Europe, with their first game set to be against Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds on Tuesday evening.

Hopefully, up against weaker opposition, City will be able to get the confidence flowing again with a clean sheet and a dominant victory, with the chance of a final on Friday evening an excellent time for City's season to get back on track with their second trophy of the season.

Here are the player ratings for the draw against Palace:

Ederson - 6.5/10 - Helpless for both goals, and had nothing else to do in terms of shot stopping. His distribution was slightly worse than usual, as he sprayed a few long range passes out of play.

Walker - 7/10 - As mentioned above, I personally feel Walker played well, despite the slack he's facing from City fans online. He defended his flank well other than a few moments late on in the game, and I personally view others as more culpable for the goals than him. I'm of the opinion that perhaps others should be getting game time over him at right back at the moment, but that notion hasn't been fuelled by his performance against Palace.

Dias - 7.5/10 - Defended well throughout, as he led the backline very well and offered an attacking threat with the ball too. However, he could've arguably done more to prevent Schlupp from squaring the ball to Mateta to get Palace back into the game.

Ake - 7/10 - As the deepest lying defender, Ake had a decent game both in and out of possession. He was often left to deal with Olise, which, in my opinion, he did very well.

Gvardiol - 6.5/10 - Offered a very good attacking threat down the left hand side, which was beneficial to City's game as it allowed Grealish extra freedom to roam centrally. However, he was skinned by Olise on multiple occasions, leaving Ake to do a lot of his defending. I really hope for his sake that he's given a run at centre back, mostly because that's where I believe his long term future at the club lies.

Rodri - 7/10 - On the ball, Rodri was quite sloppy, as he misplaced a few passes under no pressure. However, off the ball, he gave his best performance of the season yet, as he worked back well numerous times to help break up Palace counter attacks.

Lewis - 7.5/10 - Took his goal superbly, and won the ball back numerous times when tracking back. Also helped City attack by crashing into the box and making himself a passing option on the outside of the box on numerous occasions. Good to see he took responsibility by doing the post match interview too - that showed a lot of character for a 19 year old that quite frankly some of City's more senior players should've shown too.

Foden - 8/10 - Sublime in the centre of the park for (almost) the entire match. Foden is beginning to get that "X factor" to his game, where he's showing off unbelievable amounts of flair and technique on a regular basis, with his lovely turn and through ball for Grealish's goal the best evidence for this. Unfortunately all Foden will be remembered for in this game is his moments of madness at the end of the game, where he was simply too desperate to make amends for one loose pass.

Bernardo - 6.5/10 - Quite quiet on the right hand side, with Tyrick Mitchell doing a good job against him in 1 vs 1 duels. However, he played a few dangerous passes going forwards, with one through ball to an underlapping Lewis coming to mind. He also came so close to scoring with a ferocious curling effort from the edge of the area that was well saved by Henderson.

Alvarez - 5.5/10 - The Argentinian forward was very quiet all game, and wasn't able to offer much of an outlet or a focal point. Also, it appeared that he was putting less effort in than usual, as he seemed disinterested at times where he'd usually be dogged and aggressive.

Grealish - 8.5/10 - Given the freedom to roam like he was at Aston Villa, Grealish ran the show for City, scoring the first goal and playing a huge part in the second. He also did a good job helping Gvardiol and Ake defend City's left flank, which is an excellent way of showing just how he's adapted his game to fit City's system under Guardiola.

Substitutes:

Stones - Not enough time to make an impact.