Manchester City is showing an unconvincing performance this season, ranked 4th in the Premier League with 1 point more than the 5th ranked team, Tottenham Hotspur.
Depends on Haaland’s scoring ability
Although he was caught out and his scoring form decreased a bit compared to last season. However, Erling Haaland still plays a very important role in The Citizens’ goal output. Specifically, in 6 matches the Norwegian striker did not score, Pep Guardiola’s team only won 2, drew 1 and lost 3 matches. In the matches where Haaland opened fire, Man City was undefeated in the Premier League.
Pep is too confident in his current personnel
After the departure of Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Joao Cancelo, the Spanish strategist did not bring in replacement contracts of adequate quality. Instead, he brought in a Mateo Kovacic who, despite shining in the early stages, has disappeared in recent times and was not even allowed to play against Crystal Palace.
Jeremy Doku can be considered an acceptable contract but needs more time to prove when he returns from injury. While he only used Rico Lewis, an inexperienced young player to replace Joao Cancelo and this failed this season.
Although Josko Gvardiol has not shown many mistakes, in the loss to Aston Villa, people saw the limitations of the Croatian midfielder. Leon Bailey’s speed made defender No. 24 confused in his handling. He even had a failed pass in the penalty area and almost made the home team pay the price.
The fact that Man City always plays with an imposing stance causes the weaknesses in the defense to be covered up. However, Unai Emery’s team’s 0-1 loss to Aston Villa exposed all of The Citizens’ weaknesses.
There isn’t much motivation left in the Premier League
Dominating the tournament since the 17/18 season and only letting Liverpool pass once in the 19/20 season made Pep and his team no longer interested in winning the domestic championship. The Citizens are always compared to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga when they always show superiority compared to the general level of the tournament.
After last season’s historic treble, Manchester City players seem to feel satisfied with their position. They view the domestic tournament as an almost must-have factor and focus more on Europe.
However, the Premier League is the most attractive tournament on the planet, not as simple as the Bundesliga. Subjectivity in the domestic tournament cost The Citizens dearly when teams such as Aston Villa, Arsenal or Liverpool all rose strongly.
Ambition is good, but a true class champion needs to know how to balance personnel on each front they participate in. If they are too greedy for the Champions League and forget the domestic tournament, Pep and his team will likely have to pay the price of the entire season.