Manchester City have entered the November international break off the back of a very poor run of form.
Specifically, City have lost their four previous matches across all competitions – which is something a Pep Guardiola side has never done before.
After their Champions League defeat to Sporting CP, Bernardo Silva said City were in a “dark place”, which was only made darker when they blew a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.
Following that game, Guardiola said City needed the international break to arrive when it did to give his side the chance to reset.
With several figures from City’s squad having been in action for their countries over the past couple of days, one, in particular, has recently done something that may have put the chances of him getting regular game time with City at risk.
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James McAtee failed to deliver in latest England U21 match
Featuring in his latest match for England’s U21 side in Friday night’s friendly game against Spain’s U21 side, James McAtee delivered a rather disappointing performance in the 0-0 draw.
Specifically, the midfielder had 28 touches of the ball in total before being subbed off for Ben Chrisene in the 90th minute.
With 20 passes attempted, only 13 of them were completed accurately, giving the City academy graduate an overall passing accuracy percentage of 65%.
Giving possession away 13 times in total, McAtee also lost all five duels he was involved in and failed to successfully complete either of the two dribbles he attempted.
This display ultimately earned the 22-year-old a rather underwhelming overall match rating of 6.3/10 from SofaScore, making him the lowest-rated England player on the day.
McAtee’s performance won’t have convinced Guardiola to play him for City
Despite finally being a part of City’s first-team squad this season, McAtee has only appeared in six matches across all competitions, starting three of them.
With just one minute of Premier League action under his belt in this campaign, it’s clear that Guardiola has been reluctant to give the midfielder the chance to make an impact in the team.
Even though his latest international appearance was just in an U21 friendly match, the fact that he delivered such a disappointing won’t have done much to convince Guardiola to give him a bigger role in the City team moving forward.
