Norwich City 3-2 Manchester City: 5 Talking Points

#1 Sloppy City backline reiterates impact of Laporte's absence

It was certainly an evening to forget for Otamendi and City's backline

In City's first game since Aymeric Laporte's successful knee surgery was confirmed, they looked increasingly vulnerable at the back and were shaky defending against counter-attacks too.

If ever there was a match highlighting the Frenchman's importance at the heart of their backline, it was this one. The Otamendi-Stones pairing has never truly appeared convincing and while the England international made his return after a month-long absence, he was never going to be helped by the overly aggressive Argentine alongside him.

It was this impulsive defending which proved pivotal for their second goal, as he strayed forward and was caught out of possession on the counter. The pass into Pukki should have been cut out in its tracks, instead Otamendi frantically sprinted back attempting to recover his error. By then it was too late.

If that was bad, Norwich's third was gift-wrapped by the Argentine. Stones passed across the box into his path and after dithering in possession, he looked lost and had his hands up with apparent confusion after Buendia reacted quickly to cleanly win the ball back from behind.

Pukki wasn't going to miss from there and City suddenly found themselves with another two-goal deficit to overturn just minutes after the restart. Walker was again exposed defensively, Zinchenko didn't look comfortable and Stones wasn't exactly covering himself in glory either.

It's certainly worrying for the defending champions, who lost influential captain Vincent Kompany to Anderlecht this summer and Laporte will not be fit again until January or February at the earliest.