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“Manchester City don’t give you the twists,” said Gary Neville during last season’s Premier League title run-in. “You always said in the years gone by that there will be a twist and a turn, that something happens. I’m not sure it is going to happen.”
Neville might have been proved right then as Pep Guardiola’s side held off the threat of Arsenal and claimed a record fourth successive title by winning their final nine games. But right now City are not just twisting, they have fallen flat on their faces.
For just the third time in the Guardiola era, they have lost three games in a row in all competitions, going out to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup before being well beaten by Bournemouth and then destroyed by Ruben Amorim’s Sporting CP. And next up is the trickiest of trips to Brighton, who offer a serious threat of City suffering a fourth consecutive defeat for the first time ever under Guardiola.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Catalan faces the toughest challenge of his glorious spell in charge at the Etihad Stadium. And how he navigates it will affect the destination of the Premier League title, as well as impacting whether or not this will be his last campaign with the club.
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(C)Getty Images‘Everything going the wrong way’
Bernardo Silva should have enjoyed returning to his home city of Lisbon but as he spoke to TNT Sports after Sporting had ripped his side apart at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, he could not hide his sadness or his incredulity. “It’s difficult to find the reasons why what is happening now to us,” the Portugal international said. “I don’t remember in seven-and-a-half seasons losing three in a row. We’re in a dark place, everything looks to be going the wrong way.”
Indeed, it is not just the results that are concerning. Something just does not seem right with Guardiola’s side. As Neville referenced last May, City are usually experts in composure. They can numb the most intimidating of atmospheres into silence by keeping the ball forever. They can lose a player like Kevin De Bruyne for half of the season or Erling Haaland for two months – and still win the league.
They can write off a big money signing like Kalvin Phillips in a matter of weeks and barely notice. They can be hit by 115 charges from the Premier League, threatening their very existence, but block it all out and still go on to win the treble. Keep calm and carry on winning, no matter the circumstance.
But that usual sense of serenity has been replaced by a feeling of panic. Just look at Haaland.
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GettyHaaland is low on confidence
The Norwegian takes pride in avoiding stress as much as he can, embracing meditation and sleep techniques. Now, though, he looks anything but relaxed. He had five attempts on goal against Sporting and each wasted opportunity told a different story. He could be forgiven for not beating Franco Israel from a tight angle early in the game but his next effort, when he latched on to a bouncing ball in the area and then shanked it well wide of the near post, portrayed his current lack of confidence.
So did his next effort, a header that lacked the power to cross the goal-line before being cleared by Viktor Gyokeres. Worst of all was his performance from the penalty spot, when he hit the ball as hard as he could, hammering it against the crossbar.
As Guardiola warned us last season when he said “Never criticise your top scorer, he will shut your mouth,” one must always be careful about writing off Haaland. He had scored an outrageous volley in his last Champions League outing and has 11 Premier League goals. But he is on a patchy run of form, to put it mildly.
He has failed to score in six of his last 10 games for City. In the Premier League, he has one goal in his last five. Against Wolves, he registered zero shots on goal. But against Newcastle, as in Lisbon, he had five attempts but got no joy. Against Southampton he was laughably wasteful, scoring just once from eight shots.
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Getty Images SportDesperate defending
When Guardiola said his team were “not emotionally stable” in Lisbon, it sounded like he was referring to Haaland. But he was in fact referring to Josko Gvardiol and Matheus Nunes for the manner in which they gave away penalties in the second half. Both players threw their arms out to try and stop their opponents. It looked like a sign of desperation.
Perhaps it should not be surprising that City look out of sorts defensively. In Lisbon, they were fielding a different back four for the fifth game in a row and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey was making his first-team debut. The 19-year-old was thrown into the deep end but Guardiola had little option as his defence has been decimated. Ruben Dias and John Stones were out, while Kyle Walker had just rushed back from injury and was kept on the bench after his erratic display against Bournemouth.
Rico Lewis has usurped Walker in the line-up on many occasions this season, although the 34-year-old’s injury issues have been a factor in that regard. And this was a night when City badly missed their experienced right-back and his renowned recovery pace.
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(C)Getty ImagesLonging for Rodri
And, of course, City were missing Rodri, the one player who they have not been able to do without in recent years. The English champions lost all four of the games he was suspended for in the first half of last season and, after winning the first six games after he suffered his season-ending injury against Arsenal, they are again showing how much they rely on the recent Ballon d’Or winner.
Mateo Kovacic worked best last season when he was sitting next to the Spaniard in midfield. Without him, he has been increasingly exposed. Ilkay Gundogan has looked much less vibrant than when he left for Barcelona. Perhaps that should be no surprise for a player who turned 34 last month, had spent the previous season in a much less intense league and who retired from Germany as he needed to play less football.
Dias and Stones are unlikely to be back for City’s trip to the Amex Stadium to face a Brighton side who gave Liverpool a real fright last week and who have beaten Newcastle, Tottenham and Manchester United while taking points off Arsenal.
When the defensive injury crisis abates, however, there is every chance that City regroup and rediscover their old selves.
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AFPNot out of the blue
Nonetheless, there is also an argument that this recent spate of negative results has been a long time coming and will not be so easy to fix.
City were left begging for the final whistle when they beat Brentford in September. They needed a 97th-minute equaliser from Stones to avoid defeat to 10-man Arsenal and a 94th-minute header from the defender to beat Wolves, who were bottom of the table at the time.
This mini-crisis is not out of the blue, but Guardiola needs solutions and he needs them fast, as City’s fixture list gets much harder in the next month. Before Christmas they have to visit Liverpool, Juventus and Aston Villa while hosting Tottenham, Manchester United – who by then will be under the guidance of Amorim – and surprise package Nottingham Forest.
Luckily for City, he lives for moments like this.
“We knew it would be a tough season at the start but this is what it is,” Guardiola said. “I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players and try it. Life is like this. Maybe the past six Premier Leagues in seven years and four in a row is an exception. It’s a difficult moment in terms of the result but I want to be here, I want to fight. I won’t give up, I like this challenge I have as a manager ahead of me.”
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Getty Images SportThey’ve been here before
City’s grip on the title looks precarious and leaders Liverpool will be looking at their current struggles with great interest. The Merseysiders have been here before, though, sensing weakness among their rivals only to be left disappointed. So has everyone else, even if it is easy to forget City’s previous struggles given how dominant they have been in the last decade.
In Guardiola’s first, trophy-less season, his side could not win for six games and they then endured winless runs of four and three games. They responded by taking 100 points in the next season. And even in that incredible campaign they lost three games in a row and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Wigan Athletic.
In the 2020-21 season, they won just five of their first 13 Premier League games and there was serious doubt – as there is now – about whether Guardiola would want to stay on much longer. City responded to that slump by winning their next 15 games and snatching the title back from Liverpool, the first of their four successive crowns.
Guardiola has a rare ability to shine a light in darkness and use his lowest points to plot his greatest successes. Predicting his downfall is as unwise as writing off Haaland. Despite the fact he has run down his contract with City, there is a feeling that he is going to renew it for at least one more year. This wobble will motivate him as much as it will infuriate him.
All the same, it is refreshing to be reminded that Gary Neville is not always right. Manchester City do give you twists after all. And it will be fascinating to see how they respond to this one.
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