As the final whistle signalled the end of Manchester City’s clash with Spurs, it compounded their misery and sent them 13th in the table. It goes without saying that this is a far cry from where they would want to be at this stage in the season.
This begs the question, why are the Premier League’s perennial contenders so lowly this season?
Soft?
While Manchester City are one of the best ball-playing teams in the world, they have always struggled somewhat when attacked and pressed effectively. When put on the back-foot City have tended to be more reticent and not really had a plan B to revert to.
Title credentials are often measured with a team’s ability to “win ugly” and this is not really a skill that City have managed to get to grips with. When things are going their way and they are given space to express themselves, City’s playmakers can dismantle anyone in the world. When pressed however, it becomes an entirely different prospect.
At various times this season Pep Guardiola’s side have come up against more energetic, high pressing sides in Leicester and Leeds and come unstuck. Leicester pressed high and kept up the intensity and City folded to the tune of 5 goals.
To put it bluntly, their backline was frequently an issue last season due it being – well – not very good. It was hoped that the addition of centre-back Ruben Dias and holding midfielder Rodri would add some bite on the defensive end and the jury is out as to how much dividends this has paid.
Toothless up top
Sergio Aguero more or less guarantees 17-25 goals a season depending on fitness, but the injuries seem to be piling up and they appear to also increase in severity, so doubts linger as to his prolonged effect at the very top.
This season Aguero has made just two appearances in the Premier League and his backup, Gabriel Jesus, just three. This is a worrying stat for Guardiola because these two represent the entirety of City’s centre forward options. A fact that seems very short sighted given what we and Guardiola must know about Aguero’s recent injury record.
A shrewd bit of market scouting could have done wonders here for the structure of the line-up. Recently Spurs saw the benefits of picking up a cheap, experienced forward in Fernando Llorente who – whilst only scoring two league goals – provided much needed structure in the absence of Harry Kane.
Without a central point to play through or simply as an outlet, the City front line has looked about as far removed from that which has broken goalscoring records in recent years despite the quality that Ferran Torres and Raheem Sterling provide.
Out-Pepped?
This is the longest tenure Pep Guardiola has held at a club during his celebrated managerial career. There are multiple rumoured reasons for this, the first being that Pep has a reputation for being – well – quite intense and weird. His intensity is no secret, and it may get to a point where the players are wary of it after a while.
Whilst Pep has been at the forefront of three transcendent teams over the last twelve years, it may have been tempting to move in a different direction however, he has recently signed an extension to stay at the club until 2023.
A Competitive Season
This year has actually seen a fairly competitive premier league (not a common happening) with teams such as Spurs and Chelsea finally playing up to the standards expected of them. Liverpool are once again doing damage even with a depleted squad and dare we say, less motivation having secured their first Premier League title.
An array of good fringe teams have also made the step up, with Leicester, Wolves and Everton kicking on from good platforms and Southampton also being the surprise package.
Simply put there are more good teams this season than there have been in recent years in the league that some consider the best in the world.
Flash in the Pan?
All teams have bad periods, Manchester City may be experiencing a particularly lean spell at the moment but if we are to take a step back and look at the table, the season is less than a third of the way through. They will pick it up at some point, realistically, they are too good not to.
So, fret not City fans (well, fret a bit) this is not how the table will look at the end of the season, but it will take a lot of work to get to the position that would have been expected by so many before this season.
City do enjoy taking out their grievances on average teams so I expect Burnley may be somewhat apprehensive come Saturday afternoon.
By Michael Vince