Manchester City recently suffered one of the worst defeats of the Pep Guardiola era.
On Saturday evening, City welcomed Tottenham Hotspur to the Etihad Stadium for their first Premier League match since the November international break came and went.
With Pep Guardiola’s side heading into this match off the back of losing four games in a row, things only got worse for the champions as they fell to a disheartening 4-0 defeat to the North London club.
At the 20-minute mark, Spurs were 2-0 up with James Maddison bagging both goals. The second half then saw Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson take things from bad to worse for the home side, ultimately handing them their fifth consecutive defeat.
This defeat and the manner in which it came about, should have now confirmed what the Manchester club, specifically Txiki Begiristain, should be looking to do once the January transfer window comes around.
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Spurs defeat should confirm City’s January transfer intentions
Precisely, City should now be certain that they will look to sign at least one midfielder to strengthen their squad during the winter window.
Back in September, after Rodri suffered a season-ending injury, the subject of City signing a midfielder in January as a replacement for the Spaniard cropped up, with Guardiola sharing this on the topic.
He said: “We will see. We talked today with Txiki, we will see what’s going on. We don’t have to decide tomorrow, right? We have time to see the potential problems we will have and after we will see.”
City’s midfield weaknesses were exposed against Spurs
After the match, City fans slammed Ilkay Gundogan for his performance, who also found himself being spoken about by Jamie Redknapp at the same time.
Specifically, Redknapp said Gundogan “couldn’t get around the pitch” against Spurs.
Postecoglou’s side registered five big chances across the 90 minutes compared to City’s three, highlighting how open and vulnerable Guardiola’s side defensively – mainly due to the lack of midfield cover their backline is getting in the absence of Rodri and now Mateo Kovacic.
Speaking exclusively to Manchester City News, GRV Media’s transfer expert, Graeme Bailey, said that City have shortlisted three midfielders for January in the shape of Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi, Atalanta’s Ederson and Valencia’s Javi Guerra.
Taking all of that on board, given City’s dismal run of form, their injury problems and the scrutiny their midfield has been under, Begiristain has to do all he can to bring in some fresh blood in January in an effort to strengthen that area of City’s team.
