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Second in the Premier League, Manchester City is indeed in crisis. Relegated nine points behind Liverpool after another defeat against Tottenham (4-0), the Mancunian club is going through a complicated phase in recent weeks. Beaten by Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on October 30 (2-1), Pep Guardiola’s team then suffered defeat against Bournemouth (2-1), Sporting CP (4-1), Brighton (2-1). ) and therefore this new match against Spurs. A series of 5 defeats in a row which is the first of the Pep Guardiola era with the Skyblues which is cause for concern. In difficulty offensively and defensively while being tossed around in the midfield, Manchester City seems to be exploding at all levels.
Pep Guardiola
Leader of Manchester City, the Spanish coach has certainly led Manchester City to win the 2023 Champions League as well as six Premier Leagues in eight years. Architect of Mancunian success, Pep Guardiola, cannot be disputed about his record at the head of the English team. On the other hand, we can find fault with the preparation for the 2024/2025 season. Not very active in the transfer window with only two reinforcements with Savinho (Troyes) and Ilkay Gündogan (FC Barcelona) who cost 25 million euros between them, Manchester City mainly removed options on its bench by selling for 141 million euros with Julian Alvarez, João Cancelo, Sergio Gomez, Yan Couto and Kalvin Phillips as leaders. In recent years, the Mancunian squad has been reduced drastically (Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte, Raheem Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho, etc.) for a group limited in number. Swept by injuries this season, Pep Guardiola’s team largely pays for the Spanish technician’s choices in planning his group.
Erling Haaland
Author of 12 goals in 12 Premier League matches and 15 goals in 17 matches in all competitions, the Norwegian striker is not the most guilty player. On the contrary, its efficiency allowed Manchester City to achieve some interesting results at the start of the season. On the other hand, the Norwegian suffered the backlash from his team with only 2 goals in the Skyblues’ last 7 Premier League matches. Not necessarily managing to support a failing team through personal exploits this season, the former Borussia Dortmund player is capable of better and must be able to show himself to be more self-sufficient.
Savinho
Star recruit of the Mancunian summer, Savinho is still far from having the necessary impact. If the Brazilian winger is capable of causing pain whether on the left wing or the right wing and makes differences, there is still too much room for improvement in terms of efficiency. With still 0 goals in 16 matches even if he delivered 5 assists, the former Girona player is still far from unanimous approval. While behind Erling Haaland, no offensive player has scored more than one goal in the Premier League, he must raise his level in the same way as Jack Grealish, Jérémy Doku or even Phil Foden.
Phil Foden
Precisely, the score will be steep for the 24-year-old player, because he must be judged in relation to his new status, that of best player in the Premier League during the 2023/2024 season. Its impact is much less impressive than last year. Although he was physically fragile at the start of the season, he has since returned and has not been able to regain the level displayed a year ago. Author of 3 goals and 2 offerings in 15 matches, Phil Foden has a fairly average record and his creative contribution is quite mediocre. Whoever is supposed to represent the future successor to Kevin De Bruyne must be able to confirm his last season. For the moment, that’s clearly not it…
Kevin De Bruyne
Manchester City manager over the last few years, the Belgian seems to be slowly, but surely coming to the end of his Mancunian history. The 33-year-old player, who is entering his final year of contract, has only played 9 matches for 1 goal and 1 gift. Once again, his fragility handicaps him just like Manchester City. Excellent during the first 4 days when he was present, he then experienced problems and has not been able to regain his influence since his return to the field. When he is not at his best, Kevin De Bruyne sees Manchester City purring and he will have to correct things to help the Skyblues get their heads back on track.
Ilkay Gundogan
Excellent last year with FC Barcelona, the German midfielder is having a difficult return to Manchester City. Author of 16 appearances (1 goal and 1 assist), he seems physically borrowed and has a much less significant creative contribution than what we know of him. The loss of Rodri Hernandez, victim of a cruciate ligament rupture, has not helped his case and Pep Guardiola cannot find the solution in a midfield where Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva do not have the profile to play. what Rodri was doing. Ilkay Gündogan is part of the Skyblues crisis.
Pep Guardiola wants to restart the machine
Taking his responsibilities, Pep Guardiola in any case set the tone before challenging Feyenoord in the Champions League this Tuesday. The Catalan coach who wants to stop this dynamic will have to find the right formula to achieve this: “we don’t expect to lose important games many times, but it happened and we have to find a way. When we started losing, I told people, “I have to find a way.” I have to do this. It’s my duty and my responsibility to find a way to be more consistent, to improve and to win matches (…) I have the feeling that we will do very, very good things this season I am not giving up, I have the feeling that we will be there. I know that when we lose, everything is over. in question. It’s our business.» With many failing executives, Manchester City finds itself in a fairly unprecedented situation, but does not lack the quality to find how to bounce back.
