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The good news for Manchester City is that there is someone who can identify their issues. Someone sufficiently well placed that he is found at the heart of their team, so well connected his neighbours include Pep Guardiola and so well respected he was once voted their captain. Ilkay Gundogan’s footballing brain is such that many expect him to become a manager, perhaps even Manchester City manager. But being able to recognise their problems does not necessarily mean they can be solved. Even one of the greatest of all time is struggling with that.
“I feel like we know exactly what’s going wrong,” said Gundogan. “We know the reasons.” His own checklist included a loss of confidence; Guardiola denied that but it was easier to agree with Gundogan after City’s 2-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League proved a seventh loss in 10 games. When they went behind, despite a couple of shots and more urgency, there was little prospect of a comeback.
But mental aspect is accompanied the tactical; perhaps they are combined. “At the moment, it feels like every attack we concede is so dangerous,” added Gundogan. The statistics showing City conceding among the most big chances in the Premier League bear that out. So, too, the manner of Juve’s second goal, City looking stretched as Juve’s replacements broke at pace. “We lose balls in transition every time and give them counter-attacks and have to chase every time 50 or 60 metres backwards,” added Gundogan. “That’s not what we’re built for.” In particular, it isn’t what he is built for: he never was and, at 34, he certainly isn’t now, as Tottenham illustrated last month.
But it is another way of underlining that Rodri is missed, that some of these issues aren’t fixable until he returns. Mateo Kovacic, an unused substitute at the Allianz Stadium, could make his comeback in Sunday’s Manchester derby but is scarcely more equipped than Gundogan to cut out counter-attacks or sprint in wide open spaces. No one is. And when games get stretched, City’s ageing midfield can look especially ragged. Guardiola can have an aversion to substitutions and, perhaps scarred by his triple change against Feyenoord, kept the same 11 on the pitch for the first 79 minutes against Juventus.
All of which may leave them more fatigued ahead of Manchester United. Yet a consequence of injuries, an overly small squad and inactivity in the transfer market is that some of a stretched squad have played more minutes than was intended. The veteran Gundogan is one, the youngster Rico Lewis another. The Mancunian’s dismissal at Crystal Palace, when his first caution came for dissent, reflected a level of frustration that was underlined when Bernardo Silva was booked for a barge in Turin. City were not primed for a run of one win in 10 matches.
Gundogan and Lewis are two who have been picked for games when they should have been either rested or omitted for tactical reasons; yet there was not the scope to do so. Josko Gvardiol and Kyle Walker are two others: the Croatian’s loss of form, and propensity to make costly errors, came after a spell when he had been hurtling from box to box as an all-action full-back turned goalscorer. Walker, meanwhile, has gone from the sprinter who was unbeatable in a race to a man who is regularly outrun: Kenan Yildiz accelerated past him on Wednesday.
And having dispensed with most of their specialist full-backs, City are weak in both full-back positions. Lewis is a competitor but lacks the size and speed; it remains to be seen where his best position will be. Walker looks a fading force. Meanwhile, their battalion of centre-backs is depleted with three of Guardiola’s preferred first four all injured. Include the lack of a defensive midfielder and goalkeeping errors and it explains why City have conceded 23 times in those 10 games.
But they have also failed to score against Liverpool and Tottenham and now Juve. “We create chances but miss to score,” said Gundogan. There was only one notable opportunity against Juventus, spurned by Erling Haaland at 0-0. But it demonstrated that when Haaland does not score, sometimes City don’t. In the Premier League, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne, Savinho, Silva and Gundogan have contributed just three goals. Last season, they got 49 league goals for their respective clubs.
It is another way in which levels have slipped. Both Guardiola and Gundogan believe City are playing well in most aspects of the game but they have become the team who don’t win the major moments, the side who lose leads. Ruben Dias recognised in Turin that their aura of invincibility is being dented. With each setback, other teams are empowered to believe they can get results against City. Failure begets failure, just as success used to beget success. They have had times in the past when their fixture list has looked laced with comfortable wins; now, with United and then Aston Villa, it seems full of potential pitfalls.
It is an indication of how far and how fast City have fallen that on Wednesday, they had four players named in the Fifpro World XI. That night, they slipped to 22nd in the Champions League. They may soon get some back from injury, acquire more confidence, improve their decision-making at pivotal points. But their players won’t get younger or faster and they won’t have Rodri, to shield the defence, to give the midfield cohesion, to make everyone else look better. Where Gundogan saw many of the problems, Guardiola has to find answers. And so far he seems to have few.
