Nothing to overreact over.
The deficiencies have been there for a while and when added with lack of intensity, it really got exposed.
The issues we have are issues City are so well suited to punishing.
We all knew it would take
Our forward players aren't willing to defend
I would take a step further than this.
Discounting Antony due to his recent arrival, outside of Bruno, they don't really support the team in anyway outside the final third. Watching other teams, they move into spaces to support the midfield's possession play. Yet, not just this season, but for many years now, one feature of our player that has been poor has been the support from the attack.
This wasn't the case under Fergie, but has been a strong feature since Moyes. Part of me feels that a 4231 sometimes hurts us. Not because of the formation, but because of the lack of partcipation in both the build up and the defence from our attack. In a classic 442, outside of the two strikers ( where one sometimes drop deep too), everyone else on the pitch contributes to getting the ball up to the final third and defending compactly. Our teams were so strong at the time because both Giggs and Beckham were willing to both come into the midfield and provide defensive support for their full backs consistently. Therefore scoring less, but also ensuring chance creation and ball movement. Even in the team with the 2008 team; Nani, Giggs, Tevez, Rooney and Ji Sung Park were all very effective at these two elements, and even though Ronaldo wasn't so keen on defending, he also supported the team in the build up play.
When you watch us currently, you see our front 3 staying high up the pitch, both in and out of possession. Not really showing much energy, and not willing to come deep enough to support attacks when needed. The current versions of Ronaldo Rashford and Sancho are the biggest offenders. Which is why its not a surprise that we have had major problems in this regard when all of them have been in the team together. People always seem to blame Ronaldo alone for this, but both Sancho and Rashford have also been massive contributors to our lack of pressing; both being in the team has also exposed Ronaldo imo and I suspect this is why Elanga has featured so much over the last year despite his shortcomings.
I would seriously consider playing a christmas tree formation, with Bruno and Antony supporting the striker. It's something Arsenal struggled with in the past when they had Ozil and Sanchez and something we may now be dealing with