Pep Guardiola’s frustrations continue as Manchester City drop points against West Brom

As the clock ticked towards the end of the game between Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola’s frustrations were visible for all to see.

With the Cityzens struggling to break down their relegation-battling opponents, the cameras at the Etihad zoomed into Guardiola as fourth official Anthony Taylor prepared to announce the minutes to be played as stoppage time.

Once the Spaniard realised only four minutes had been added on as stoppage time, his disappointment couldn’t be quantified. It was a comical moment for all neutral fans watching but Guardiola’s frustrations mirror the current slump of Manchester City.

This is a side that has battered teams for fun in recent seasons but are currently struggling to score goals. On Tuesday, Manchester City took a first-half lead through Ilkay Gundogan but failed to hold on to it when Ruben Diaz netted an own goal.

Pep Guardiola's not a fan of the injury-time added on...#PLonPrime #MCIWBA pic.twitter.com/LS8EolrCyx

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 15, 2020

Manchester City currently lacking the cutting edge

For the record, Manchester City are still dominating teams in terms of possession. They had 77% possession against West Brom but still couldn’t find the winner.

In the absence of Sergio Aguero, they’ve simply been blunt up front. While Gabriel Jesus is not a bad player, he’s not world-class either. The all-firing Manchester City teams of the past have had their goals spread across the field.

If Aguero wasn’t scoring, Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Brunye and David Silva were there to help out. Even Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi were chipping in with goals at times.

Currently though, the goals have dried up, and no one seems to be up to the task of taking up the burden.

West Brom earn their first point against Manchester City in the Premier League for the first time since December 2011.A run of 13 consecutive league defeats finally comes to an end. pic.twitter.com/kFZwcOMdxD

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 15, 2020

Manchester City's title charge falling off fast

Manchester City have now failed to win any of their last two Premier League games following last week’s goalless draw against rivals Manchester United.

Pep Guardiola said after the West Brom game (as quoted by Goal):

"We didn't create much in the first half, they had a lot of people back, we struggled to win the second balls,.

"In the second half we did everything we just couldn't score. We created enough to win the game, 26 shots I think, you just have to put the ball in. We are struggling with that. We have to be optimistic.”

For some reason, many still regard Manchester City as title contenders despite their poor form.

However, should their recent slump continue, they are bound to be challenging for a top-four place rather than for the title.