Way, way over the top.
City didn't spank us (like we all were half expecting) largely because Dier was part of a mid-block made up of himself, Sissoko and Dembele.
Dier, Sissoko and Dembele worked OK (nothing of excellence or wow) as a collective, each performing key functions in the system played. Dembele remained central, trying not to get drawn out wide with Sissoko and Dier covering a LOT of ground all over the pitch (central and out to the wings). Subtle differences had Sissoko bias to the right and Dier to the left, with Dier the deepest of the two. Sissoko also braking with the ball.
We have a massive problem in our team, OUR FULLBACKS. Dier and Sissoko ran the extra KM's to cover these spaces, City doesn't have this problem, meaning their Central Midfielders can be more compact by comparison. But make no mistake our lads, in particular, Dier & Sissoko covered a lot of ground last night as City tried to make the pitch as big as possible.
The midfield battle was a mess for both teams virtue that both teams were aggressive and trying to win turnovers but for both sides as soon as a ball was won it was lost again in the next phase.
Dier was positionally good, I think he had a particular brief of being restrained a specific tactic that I think worked well as we didn't concede many free kicks in and around our box, where they certainly have the talent to score from. This was a game of closing down the spaces in front of our defence, these spaces are where City excel in, give them space they can and will rip you apart. Also by not committing to the tackle, he remained on his feet, repositioned and forced them to keep playing the ball around us but rarely through us.
Take a step back and put yourselves in the oppo shoes, you are either of the Silva's, Sterling or Mahrez, imagine coming up against three massive blocks in Dier, Sissoko and Dembele, who are working their nuts off to block your run or passing channel. By and large, it worked, with our chuckle brother right back letting the side down again.
The final piece of these three came in our ability to play out from the back, against an aggressive City press too I might add.