“Doing absolutely nothing”, “Shouldn’t even be in starting line up” - Manchester City fans blame ‘useless’ player after being held to late 2-2 draw

Manchester City fans on X (formerly Twitter) blasted Kyle Walker for his poor performance during their 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, December 16.

The Cityzens dominated in the opening minutes of the contest at the Etihad Stadium. Jack Grealish broke the deadlock in the 24th minute with a good finish into the bottom corner.

Thereafter, Ederson was lucky not to get sent off in the 42nd minute after he missed the ball and took out Jean-Philippe Mateta after the latter was about to be through on goal. Rodri found the back of the net in the 52nd minute following a Julian Alvarez cross but the former was deemed to have been offside.

Manchester City made it 2-0 via Rico Lewis' brilliant volley in the 54th minute. However, Crystal Palace showed great perseverance to get back into the game. Chris Richards pinged a long ball into the path of Jeffrey Schlupp who took advantage of Kyle Walker switching to cross the ball to Mateta. The Frenchman tapped home to halve the deficit.

Manchester City threw away their chances of securing all three points when Phil Foden conceded a penalty in the 93rd minute, accidentally tripping Mateta. Michael Olise converted his spot-kick two minutes later to make it 2-2.

City fans slammed Kyle Walker for his poor defensive display in the game. The 33-year-old won zero tackles, was dribbled past once, and lost three duels. He should have also done better to prevent the Eagles' first goal from occurring.

One fan posted:

"We are winning nothing with Kyle Walker as captain. He shouldn’t even be in starting line up."

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Another fan wrote:

"Walker on the pitch for 90mins doing absolutely nothing. most of the goals coming from his side this season. shocking from our captain."

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The Cityzens remain fourth in the Premier League standings, with 34 points from 17 games. If Liverpool were to win tomorrow against Manchester United, the gap to the top of the table would increase to six points.

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How did Manchester City fare against Crystal Palace?

Despite being in control for most of the game, Manchester City surrendered their two-goal advantage against Crystal Palace to draw 2-2 on Saturday. Let's take a look at the stats to see how both teams performed.

Manchester City dominated possession, with 75 percent of the ball. They also attempted a total of 812 passes, with an accuracy of 91 percent. In contrast, the Eagles had 25 percent possession and attempted 282 passes, with an accuracy of 75 percent.

Pep Guardiola and Co. looked much more threatening up front, registering a total of 19 shots, with nine being on target. However, Dean Henderson had a stellar game for Crystal Palace, resulting in City not making the most of their chances. On the other hand, Palace had five shots in total, landing two on target.