It seems that only small businesses are not experiencing the crisis. On the other hand, when you expose yourself to the firmament… It has indeed been eighteen years since Manchester City last suffered four defeats in a row, in all competitions. In the meantime, the Champions League has finally arrived safely, on the blue side of Manchester. On the scale of this ogre with six Premier Leagues in seven years – including four in a row – this bad patch takes on the appearance of a national drama, tearing out the last stray hairs on Pep Guardiola’s head. Especially since in 2006, the date of the last similar “black” series, City was only a shadow led by a temporary worker: Stuart Pearce. The world of football was then far from imagining that an investment fund from Abu Dhabi would transform it into a European-sized scarecrow. So, a simple slump hoped for by all its competitors, a real “crisis” or yet another exaggeration, given the numerous injuries to be deplored on the Skyblues ?
Of those who “do not have the right to”
Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, all the historic big names across the Channel have already experienced the breakdown (sometimes over entire seasons), suffering the repercussions of their past exploits. But the control of Citizens in the English championship over the last decade makes their current poor form surprising in the eyes of rivals. Carried away by Sporting CP in the Champions League during the week, surprised by Brighton this weekend, the men of the (new) bald god show improbable generosity and Guardiola seems for the first time disillusioned by the situation. And for good reason, he had never experienced four consecutive losses in his career. So what’s the problem, Doctor? To begin with, the fresh Ballon d’Or Rodri is missing and will still be missing until the end of the season. With him? No defeats in 36 matches. Without him? 5 defeats in 13 matches. Without its metronome and brain in front of the defense, Manchester City is slipping, and that’s logical. Worse, the infirmary is always full: John Stones (ankle), Rúben Dias and Jack Grealish are there permanently, Oscar Bobb has a subscription there, Jérémy Doku has just joined, Kevin De Bruyne is just getting out and is barely to rediscover his feelings, Savinho, Kyle Walker and Nathan Aké stayed there, Manuel Akanji flirts with.
So much so that a young player from the academy, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (19 years old), was urgently promoted and released into the lions’ den, directly starting in the Champions League alongside the Swiss central defender. Constantly now, Guardiola complains about it in the mixed zone. At the end of the turnaround in Brighton, for example, on the Sky microphone: “At the moment, we are incapable of playing 90 minutes at a high level. This is reality. We are missing too many players. Four central defenders are missing, our best player is out until next season, De Bruyne is far from his best level, Doku is injured, Grealish is not coping. We don’t have roster depth right now, but we have to live with it… » A feeling shared by İlkay Gündoğan after the defeat against the Seagulls. After a very serious first half, the machine stalled, the team seemed overwhelmed physically and in commitment. Add to that the fluctuating performance of Phil Foden in the league or the level of Matheus Nunes (only one goal in total for the two wingers since the start of the season in the Premier League, not much help for Erling Haaland), they are thus many, those who already imagine the king falling to the benefit of Arne Slot’s Liverpool, which is in full swing. In discussions to extend his contract for one year, Pep Guardiola therefore sees his detractors resurface: those who claim that he has distorted football and finally receive a backlash forcing him to throw kids to solve his staffing problems . However, it could only take a few waves of the magic wand from De Bruyne and a defense back on track for the season to no longer seem so shady.
Brighton overthrows a still ill Manchester City
