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Manchester City have dominated the Premier League for the last two years, racking up 198 points in total. They became the first team to reach 100 points in a single Premier League season in English football history and followed it with an even more impressive domestic treble - the first in the history of 132 years of English football.
But after two years of unparalleled brilliance, Pep Guardiola's side is now struggling to find its dazzling form this season. Although it would have been a huge ask of them to reciprocate their heroics from the last two seasons, they have been distinctly below-par in 2019-20. In fact, this is already the worst league season that Guardiola has had in his whole managerial career.
The champions have been far more inconsistent this season and look like a shadow of their former selves. It now seems that the team needs to freshen up and add some new faces after their unprecedented domination over the last two years.
With that in mind, here we take a look at the three reasons why Manchester City have struggled to find their form this season:
3. Incompetence in defense
Manchester City failed to replace Vincent Kompany last season and that has now come back to haunt them. Considering their continuous shortcomings in defense, there's a belief that the club should have tried harder to replace their long-standing captain.
The champions have looked rather shaky at the back this season as they have already let in 29 goals in the league alone. By comparison, they only allowed 23 Premier League goals in the entirety of last season.
Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones have been disappointing throughout the season and Aymeric Laporte's absence (due to injury) up until this point of the season has only extended the damage. The club's title hopes are in tatters, as City now sit 22 points behind Liverpool with no chance of retaining the Premier League, and it's only February.
2. Lack of good finishing
City's recent game against Tottenham Hotspur has been the story of their season. Their games have followed a specific trend: the team dominates proceedings, the players keep missing clear goalscoring opportunities, and finally the opposition scores with their first real sighting of the City goal.
Even more telling is the fact that there seem to be no designated penalty takers at the club. Many players have missed important penalties throughout the season and that has really cost City a lot.
When it comes to penalties, nobody seems to be scoring them. Raheem Sterling has already missed two, and Gabriel Jesus has missed four of his last six.
With the Premier League title already out of their grasp, a decision needs to be taken on who should take penalties. If City have to do any good to their Champions League chances with Real Madrid looming, the players must improve their finishing.
1. Guardiola's system has finally taken its toll
Pep Guardiola's teams play eye-catching football, passing the ball all over the field with ease, moving the opposition up and down the pitch, winning the ball back as soon as they lose it and creating numerous goalscoring opportunities. In short, they totally dominate their opponents for 90 minutes.
However, everything good comes with a price and perhaps Manchester City are paying that price this season. Guardiola's high-press and demanding football style have finally taken their toll on the players after their heroics over the past two splendid seasons.
Due to that, the team has now lost its intensity and that has made it easy for opposition teams to sit deep and break on the counter. Things need to freshen up at the Etihad and some new faces must arrive if City are to bounce back from this terrible season.
