I think ETH got caught tactically in the first half.
we chose to play a mid-block and not attack City with a higher line of engagement, in an attempt to block of their passing lanes. I don't think he anticipated how much time City were willing to take to play between the keeper and the back line. This ended up forcing us to engage at a disadvantage and created spaces that weren't covered by our midfield. We needed to either attack them with intensity or drop deep to close off potential spaces. The approach we used simply exposed Eriksen's lack of mobility and Mctominay's lack of positioning.
Additionally, Dalot's early yellow card meant that City could attack that right flank with ease knowing that he wouldn't engage Grealish. Add that to Mctominay's terrible positioning, and it was easy to cut us apart on that flank.
The truth is, even if we were the top team in Europe, I don't think this is a game we'd win. City are too good of a side to lose this sort of home game at the moment and a lot of good teams could easily get embarassed.
In saying that, there were a few key observations:
1. ETH needs to reconsider the current midfield strategy. The talent is there, but he may need to be a bit more creative game to game. Eriksen is a good player, but his performances have been overstated. He doesn't have much acceleration, and in a two man midfield, this gets exposed when playing top sides; a bit like Fabregas at Chelsea. Mctominay may be useful for rotation purposes, but really shouldn't be in the team. I understand why he's decided to play that duo, due to Casemiro's initial lack of fitness potentially pairing with Eriksen's lack of mobility, but Mctominay is not the solution. It's something we need to sort out soon.
2. Ou attack. Rashford is not a striker. He doesn't press like one and doesn't have the strength or aggression. Sancho's lack of aggression is also worrying. I think we need more intensity in our attack and I'm not sure Sancho provides that enough to be a starting player. We may need to play Rashford on the left or potentially shift Bruno left. Garnacho is also an option.