England: Manchester City, watch out fragile!

Manchester City, unrecognizable in defense, has become a colossus with fragile feet which no longer scares anyone, except its supporters and Pep Guardiola, coach entangled in a cataclysmic series of six matches without a victory.

The giant of England and Europe collapsed spectacularly on Tuesday at home against Feyenoord (3-3) by squandering a three-goal lead late on, a disaster which further deepens the crisis after five consecutive defeats.

It became « Calamitous City »according to the Daily Star, even « Sin City » (the city of sin) for the Mirror, in unison with a British press greedy for puns and superlatives. “City’s misery continues”summarizes the Guardian, when the Daily Mail speaks of a « implosion » for Mancunians “at the lowest”.

The slide of superheroes in sky blue jerseys, serial winners since the arrival of Guardiola in 2016, is endless and the Spaniard cannot activate the handbrake, for the moment.

His team has built an exceptional record, nationally (six of the last seven Premier League titles) and internationally (Champions League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup), thanks to an iron defense, among other things .

However, its rearguard has just conceded seventeen goals in six matches, including three in the space of a quarter of an hour on Tuesday, against a supposedly much inferior Rotterdam team.

“Weak, light, fragile”

“We have never seen such defensive fragility from Manchester City before. It seems like that's the case in every match they've played lately.”pointed out former England winger Andros Townsend on the BBC.

Alan Shearer, former England captain, made a harsh observation on Amazon Prime: “they look weak, they look light, they look fragile”he summarized. “Even two minutes from the end, when they are leading 3-2, they take a free kick quickly. For what? »he asked himself.

This is the 1000 pound question that Guardiola is also asking, who waited until his 942nd match as coach to let victory slip away in a match where his team led by three goals.

“We have lost a lot of matches recently. We are fragile and of course we need a victory”recognized the Catalan after the match. What’s next? “Rest for a day or two, clear your head mentally and think about the next (match)”.

The scuttling at the end of the match turned into self-mutilation for Guardiola, who appeared before the media with scratches on his nose and scalp: “I wanted to hurt myself”he declared with a smile.

And now Liverpool

But it's probably his defense that's suffering the most right now. “They lack a vocal leader, a strong leader at the back”analyzed the former French defender of Man City, Gaël Clichy, on Prime.

Unavailable for five matches, Ruben Dias is particularly missed by his teammates. John Stones is in the infirmary, Kyle Walker has lost his starting place and Josko Gvardiol has just made one ball after another against Tottenham (0-4) and Rotterdam (3-3).

Guardiola was also not inspired by taking out Nathan Aké in the 68th minute, and at 3-0, to launch the young Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (19) in central defense.

The chief mechanic will have to quickly tighten the bolts if he wants to maintain his hopes of a Premier League title. On Sunday, his team travels to Anfield to challenge Liverpool, the current leader who is averaging two goals scored per game this season in the league.