THE FANS’ VERDICT

PETER WOOD (le-grove.co.uk)

The new era felt a lot like the old one. Familiar mistakes, a naive display and fans streaming out well before the end. But Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were City. Emery’s struggle is that he doesn’t have a free-spending owner. STAR MAN: MATTEO GUENDOUZI

STEVEN ALLWEIS (viewfromablue.com)

By our incredibly high standards, this performance was a bit sloppy — but still comfortable. Stones and Laporte were superb at the back when needed. There’s plenty more to come and that should worry the rest of the league. STAR MAN: AYMERIC LAPORTE