Micah Richards has highlighted one thing about Manchester City’s recent performances that he thinks is missing at the moment.
The Manchester club recently secured another European title as they beat Sevilla on penalties in the Super Cup final in Athens on Wednesday.
Following this latest victory, one pundit and former City player, has shared an early assessment on what Pep Guardiola’s side have done so far this season, pinpointing one aspect he thinks hasn’t clicked yet.
Richards shares early City concern
Speaking on a recent episode of The Rest Is Football alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, Richards had this to say about City following their midweek European victory.
He said: “Watching Man City now, they’re obviously a great team but Kevin De Bruyne gets a big injury, [Ilkay] Gundogan’s left and it seems to me like they’re not in the groove.
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“It’s early stages, Man City always take a little bit of time to get going. They have all that possession but it just feels to me like something is missing at this moment in time.
“[Erling] Haaland was making so many runs in this game against Sevilla, Sevilla was a very good team, very compact in how they defend, but there seems like there’s a link between the midfield and the attack that’s missing.”
Having scored five goals across their three games so far this season and racking up 23 attempts at goal in the midweek showdown against Sevilla, without De Bruyne in the side, this doesn’t suggest that City aren’t clicking in terms of their attack, especially with Haaland scoring two first-half goals in the 3-0 Premier League win over Burnley.
In our view, while he acknowledged how early it is in the season, Richards could be jumping the gun a bit in terms of having concerns about the way City are playing at the moment.
However, with a big test ahead of them this evening in the Premier League as Newcastle United travel to the Etihad Stadium following their 5-1 win over Aston Villa in their first game of the campaign, this will surely be a tough challenge for Guardiola’s side and potentially give the likes of Richards to get a better view of what sort of state the team are in at the moment.