Manchester City suffered their first defeat since the Community Shield on Wednesday night against PSG - but it's not all doom and gloom

When a home team leaves the field 3-0 down at half-time, you'd expect boos to accompany the referee's whistle. But Manchester City fans just stood in stunned silence on Wednesday night after watching their side be dismantled by PSG.

City were not at their best, but PSG were simply ruthless. Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha carved through City with their goals, but the battle was being lost in the middle of the park. Warren Zaire-Emery may only be 20 but he was proving to be a pitbull in the middle of the park.

Each time PSG came forward in numbers, Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez were cut adrift. Despite being so good at Liverpool, the pair were being overrun by the midfield three and that was causing City all kinds of problems in defence. The back four were all at sea and were exposed to the strength of PSG's attack.

As per FotMob, PSG had ten shots (seven on target) in the first half compared to the Blues' six (one on target). After Vitinha scored PSG's third, the City players gathered in the middle of the pitch to conduct an inquest into the performance so far. But it was a smart change at the break from Enzo Maresca that saw City threaten a comeback.

The City boss turned to his bench to bring on Matheus Nunes, Iliman Ndiaye and, crucially, Ayyoub Bouaddi. Considering the hype around the latter, Maresca has used him sparingly. That decision speaks more to the quality of City's squad than how Bouaddi has settled in England.

Replacing Rayan Cherki, City suddenly became more compact with Bouaddi on the pitch and PSG had no answer. Despite playing just 45 minutes, Bouaddi produced ten line-breaking passes - only Marc Guehi and Anderson made more - according to FotMob.

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In the first half, PSG were dominating nearly all of the stats - xG, total shots, shots on target and accurate passes were all in their favour. After the break, City were the ones bossing those key statistics. Most prominent of all was their accurate passes tally. While City improved by 43 in the second half, PSG's dropped from 241 to a mere 134.

Having Bouaddi in the centre was partially responsible for that. From his heatmap below, you can see how much ground he was covering, particularly in the attacking midfield areas.

He only failed to complete three of his 40 passes and ended the game with an assist after setting up Erling Haaland for his second of the match. This was a performance of the highest quality, and the exciting thing from a City perspective is that he is only 19. Imagine how good he could be in a couple of years' time.

Of course, when Maresca analysed the game on Thursday he won't have been jumping for joy. City still lost and that first half did not correlate with the Italian's assessment that they are close to PSG's quality.

However, it feels like City have found a solution to a major problem. We saw on Sunday how good Cherki can be when he is allowed the space to operate. Against Liverpool, the Frenchman was dictating attacks and had the freedom to roam into whichever position he liked.

But against a side like PSG, who are looking to flood the centre of the pitch, he is less effective. Having Bouaddi, Anderson and Fernandez as your three midfielders combats that tactic. They provided more balance in the centre of the pitch and filled the gaps PSG were exploiting in the first half.

In the big games where City are not necessarily going to have it all their own way, picking Bouaddi to provide that extra bit of protection in midfield could be the way forward. If City can produce more performances like that second-half display, they will be well placed for silverware this season.