'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are gaining some significant attention in the media following their latest defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. The English champions are now a whopping 22 points behind Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool with their topsy-turvy league form posing serious questions to their Champions League pursuit.
Guardiola is often found praising his team even after defeat with fans now getting extremely frustrated not only with the team’s performances but also with their manager’s reluctance to address some major issues at the club. The Catalan will now have to go all out for the trio of cup competitions before the tiny cracks at Manchester City widen into fissures. In this section, we discuss three major reasons for their downfall this season in the league.
3. Injuries to key players
While rival fans will suggest that Manchester City are well-equipped to cope up with any injury thrown at them, only some will actually sympathise with the Premier League champions. Both Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane, two quintessential building blocks of the Pep Guardiola machine, have been missing throughout the season. The Frenchman’s return at Bramall Lane was refreshing and relieving for many but he has again been sidelined with fatigue and slow recovery.
Taking Laporte and Sane out of this City team can be equated to taking Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane out of Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp would surely not be enjoying a 22-point lead without this talismanic duo. Laporte was named in the PFA Team of the Year in what was his first full season at the club, showcasing his immense ability and leadership qualities. Many would forget that his goal at Brighton before half-time on the final day of last season was pivotal to send his City towards the championship. And his left-footed counterpart Sane might be the only world-class 22-year-old in all of Europe.
Raheem Sterling has had to fill in at the left-flank in the German’s absence, and though he has featured there a lot of times for City, his most effective performances come at the right-wing. Riyad Mahrez has been one of Guardiola’s stand-out performers this season, but Sane’s directness and effectiveness gives the team a different dimension going forward. The 2017/18 PFA Young Player of the Year has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich since forever, but recent reports have suggested that he might as well sign a new contract at the Etihad.
Apart from these two absolutely vital players, other equally important players like David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Rodri, John Stones, Benjamin Mendy, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ederson have had their share of injury concerns this season. The left-footed combination of Laporte, Silva and Sane was key in unlocking many defenses last season but all three have struggled with match fitness this term. City, therefore, have suffered several injuries at different points of time which have hampered momentum and forced Guardiola to try unusual formations and tactics.
On the other hand, their title rivals Liverpool have also been unlucky with injuries but their core group of players like Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Jordan Henderson have all stayed sharp and fit throughout most of the season. If City are to challenge for the title next season, they will need their best players to be at the peak of their powers for the majority of the campaign.
2. Guardiola’s overthinking
English publication Daily Mail, on Tuesday, reported that Manchester City stars were quite vocal in expressing their concerns to manager Pep Guardiola over his extensive tactical twitching every week. The to-be-usurped English champions tasted their 7th defeat of the Premier League, this time at the hands of Jose Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur. City were not the worst team on the night, having missed another penalty, falling victim to VAR decisions, hitting the bar twice and being utterly wasteful in front of goal.
Pep Guardiola’s men blanked against both Spurs and Manchester United this past week just after becoming the first European team to cross the 100-goal mark in all competitions this season. Although, the domestic treble holders find themselves in second place in the Premier League, in the final of the Carabao Cup final, in the FA Cup quarters and await a mammoth Round of 16 tie against Real Madrid in the Champions League, the team looks like a shadow of the juggernaut we have witnessed in the past two seasons.
Perhaps, Manchester City’s standards have soared so high that this kind of scenario makes it seem like there is a huge crisis at the club. But why have they not been as ruthless as they normally are? Much can be accredited to injuries, as discussed in the previous section. But even without the two, this City team is more than capable of challenging Liverpool for the title.
Fans and pundits will point out Raheem Sterling’s form, the defense’s vulnerability and the players’ confidence levels as reasons for City’s downfall. But an important factor has to be the manager. Pep Guardiola has no doubt revolutionised Manchester City Football Club, instilled in it an almost perfect brand of attacking football and has found ways to take then-average players to the next level. However, his overthinking and stubbornness has often affected the players negatively this season.
The former Barcelona boss has surprised many with his team selections, which have sometimes worked wonders and sometimes left viewers scratching their heads. Deploying Bernardo Silva as a false nine at Old Trafford was a tactical masterclass as the overload of midfielders created a ruckus for Manchester United. In the return fixture, however, we saw Kyle Walker and Rodri at centre-back and Joao Cancelo at left-back in what was a mental starting XI with City just managing to hold off their bitter rivals to reach the League Cup final.
Pep Guardiola has made a massive 76 changes to his line-ups in the Premier League this season, more than any other manager in the division. He has constantly changed formations, positions and tactics which have started to take a toll on some of the City players. The physical demands of Pep Guardiola and the mental pressure of being a back-to-back title winner has had some serious ramifications at Manchester City.
1. Fernandinho’s absence in midfield
Perhaps the biggest loophole in Pep Guardiola’s current Manchester City set-up is the defensive-midfield position. Veteran midfielder Fernandinho, who recently signed a contract extension with the club, was pivotal to City’s back-to-back league successes and their domestic treble triumph last season. But the Brazilian midfielder has been forced to slot in at the heart of Pep’s defence due to the long-term injury to his principle defender Aymeric Laporte. As much as Fernandinho has excelled in his new role, his most effective position still remains at the front of the back four which makes it almost ironical that, despite starting every match-week, the 34-year-old is not able to do what he best does in this City team.
Fernandinho is not the prettiest footballer, which is why his performances often go under-the-radar among this illustrious group of players. Each of Guardiola’s main midfielders have a technical speciality, be it Kevin de Bruyne’s incredible passing range, David Silva’s low centre of gravity, Ilkay Gundogan’s perfectly-timed lobs or Bernardo Silva’s immaculate control of the ball. Fernandinho does not have a “wow” factor in him nor does he represent Pep Guardiola’s “beautiful football” philosophy, but he is the one who makes everyone tick.
Rival fans and pundits have pointed out City’s “dark arts” throughout Guardiola’s reign, and Fernandinho has often been labelled as its chief architect. Nicknamed “the smiling assassin”, the former Shakhtar Donestk man has often been seen tugging a shirt here and there, tripping a forward or subtly breaking up play. But Guardiola’s formations over the years, which has usually included a lone defensive midfielder, almost compelled players like Sergio Busquets, Javi Martinez and now Fernandinho to commit the tactical foul. But there’s no doubt that the Brazilian is the team’s most effective player in terms of passing, tackling and intercepting the play. Throughout his six-and-a-half-year stay at Manchester City, he has been seen shielding the defence, complementing the midfield, gliding into the attack and even scoring the odd goal.
At centre-back, however, Fernandinho is constricted of his immense abilities. There’s no doubt that he is a natural defender of the ball, calm-headed when needed, robust when needed. Barring Laporte, he might actually just be City’s best defender given Nicolas Otamendi’s rashness and John Stones’ unpredictability. But at the centre of the pitch, Fernandinho rules the game. His quick reactions, game sense, transitional intelligence and defensive genius make him arguably one of the world’s best in his position. In Rodri, Guardiola still has a raw 22-year-old who has an impeccable work ethic but is still not a dictator of play. And Gundogan, who many would forget did an excellent job at defensive midfield towards the end of last season, is still not an original number six, but rather an attack-minded player who likes pinging balls over the top and making darts into the box.
Guardiola, therefore, has deployed both Gundogan and Rodri as a double-pivot several times this season which has called for severe backlash from the City faithful due to their ineffectiveness as a duo. The Catalan probably believes that the two can make up one Fernandinho and match his impossible standards, but that just tells us how incredibly valuable he is to this Pep Guardiola and his City team.
