Manchester City really worry England

Premier League leader with 4 wins in 4 matches, winner of the Community Shield against Manchester United, but held (0-0) by Inter Milan, it didn’t take much for the English press to worry about Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s team started on the same basis as in recent seasons and yet, the team seems far from unanimous and even raises questions. This Tuesday evening, against Inter Milan, the Cityzens did not seem very inspired and conceded several big chances. It took a great Ederson to save Pep Guardiola from a first home defeat in the group stage of C1 since taking office in 2016.

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In this match, Manchester City showed some defensive magnanimity and tactical lapses. And this did not go unnoticed, far from it. After the match the Manchester Evening was even very clear: “Manchester City players deviate from Pep Guardiola’s instructions”. The specialist media outlet recounts several scenes during the match where Pep Guardiola railed against his players’ choices and their desire to play faster forward. This is the case of Ederson, who, annoyed by his team’s long possession phase, decided to send a long clearance towards Haaland (the ball was lost in the process). Enough to provoke Pep Guardiola’s anger on the sidelines.

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Players already tired

The Spanish coach was also tactically frustrated by what Simone Inzaghi proposed. Author of 9 goals in 4 matches, Erling Haaland, for example, did not find the fault in this match and he was perfectly muzzled by the Inter defense. The missed opportunity for him to become the first player to reach 100 club goals so quickly (the record remains with Cristiano Ronaldo with 100 goals in his first 105 matches with Real Madrid). In a press conference, Guardiola was quickly annoyed by a question about Haaland’s inefficiency. To the point of interrupting the journalist to answer. “There were six players around him. Six. Three behind, three in front. That’s how they kept him out of the game. It makes it difficult for any player. Acerbi, Bastoni were five metres away from him, Calhanoglou, Zielinski in front of him. It’s difficult.”

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And The Sun speaks of a boringthe English tabloid mainly talks about Manchester City’s crazy schedule. And that’s exactly what’s worrying in the country. While several of the club’s players have come forward to complain about the schedule (Rodri, Akanji, De Bruyne, Gundogan), nothing has changed and the players are starting to be seriously impacted on the physical aspect. “It may seem silly given the Blues’ excellent start to the season, but a performance from a team that looks like it has 50 games under its belt instead of five is not ideal preparation for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal.” explains even the Manchester Evening. The Daily Mail also explains that internally, several players have explained to their staff that they had trouble recovering during the match. Not enough to reassure before the big matches. Despite a fairly impressive squad, Manchester City seems to be caught in a hellish rhythm and the slightest drop in performance will benefit the competition. Pep Guardiola has cause for concern…