Manchester City 3 Celtic 4 – McAtee impresses, Phillips struggles ...

Manchester City kicked off their pre-season tour of the United States with a 4-3 defeat against Celtic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, following a severe weather warning and stadium evacuation just an hour before kick-off.

A largely youthful City side, featuring six academy products (plus Oscar Bobb, signed at 16) at kick-off, found themselves 3-1 down at half-time after Celtic created and exploited space in midfield on several occasions.

Pep Guardiola’s men rallied in the second half to make it 3-3 but it was an evening of City doing well in attack but being punished by runners from deep or out wide, with this being Celtic’s fourth friendly of the summer so far.

On an evening when Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips were in action, as well as the crop of young hopefuls, here are the biggest takeaways from the evening from a City point of view.

Guardiola lit the touch paper on the James McAtee hype in his Monday press conference, saying: “We have a high opinion of him. I would love to have him next season with us. He can play in the small spaces in the pockets. I think he grew up in terms of physicality and has played for a team fighting relegation and when you do this, you get something special.”

And within minutes against Celtic McAtee showed that kind of ability, receiving the ball on halfway, turning swiftly and moving it forward to maintain the momentum of an early counter-attack. Later he twisted and turned on the edge of the box to set up Haaland for a shot at goal, highlighting the kind of pocket play Guardiola was talking about.

Whether that is something that is seen again during the season proper is up for debate, though. McAtee went out on loan to Sheffield United for the past two seasons because of his own desire for regular first-team minutes, and it is hard to imagine him getting that at City next season unless there are a spate of injuries, given competition for the two non-Rodri midfield spots from Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes.

The 21-year-old is a talented player but there will need to be a decision made about how many opportunities he will actually get at the club he signed for at the age of 10.

Grealish impressed Guardiola with his pre-season efforts as soon as the squad reassembled in Manchester last week and he looked sharp in Chapel Hill, driving City forward on a few occasions. Haaland was bright when he could get on the ball; although he had two efforts well saved in trademark style by Kasper Schmeichel in the first half, he nodded in for 3-3 at the back post with the kind of header he struggled with last season.

Stefan Ortega was given an unenviable task trying to keep out Celtic’s clear-cut chances after the Scottish Premiership champions carved City open in the middle and exposed Joshua Wilson-Esbrand at left-back, and Ederson came on at half-time.

Phillips had a very difficult evening, with Celtic repeatedly luring him up the pitch and then playing in behind him, allowing themselves the opportunity to get straight at the City backline. The England international was supposed to be the original Rodri relief plan, playing next to him and occasionally instead of him, but everybody knows that has not worked out so far. Little can be gleaned from pre-season but this was not the kind of start he needed from his 45 minutes on the pitch.

There were two, possibly three tiers of academy products as far as this game was concerned.

In the top tier you have Rico Lewis, 19, and Oscar Bobb, 21, who have had a good amount of game time for City. Then there is McAtee, 21, who has had a lot of first-team experience including in the Premier League, and then there are the rawer talents, many of whom have only played in City’s youth ranks, like starters Nico O’Reilly, 19, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, 18, and half-time substitute Joel Ndala, 18.

Unsurprisingly it was those with the most experience who shone brightest, with Bobb scoring City’s first and doing brilliantly to set up the second and third (from different wings). McAtee showed his class and then centre-back Callum Doyle, who has had three years on loan at Sunderland, Coventry and Leicester City, caught the eye when he came on and showed why fans of those clubs have been impressed with his slick work at the back.

O’Reilly had a hand in City’s opener and Ndala was a livewire on the left after the break, allowing Grealish to move inside (which would be an interesting move next season, if that were to be repeated). Bobb was not only the brightest young player on the pitch but the brightest full stop, and with City having signed Savinho for the right wing, Bobb is making his case early this summer.

Saturday, July 27: AC Milan (Friendly; Yankee Stadium, New York), 11pm BST, 6pm ET

(Top photo: Peter Zay/AFP via Getty Images)

Sam Lee is the Manchester City correspondent for The Athletic. The 2020-21 campaign will be his sixth following the club, having previously held other positions with Goal and the BBC, and freelancing in South America. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamLee