Manchester City ‘crisis’ debated and the issues Pep Guardiola must fix

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Manchester City’s 4-1 defeat to Sporting on Tuesday night saw the team slump to a third consecutive defeat across all competitions for the first time since 2018.

The result is one of the worst of Pep Guardiola’s time in charge of the club and was only the third time a team of his conceded four goals in the 175 Champions League matches he has managed.

The European defeat followed Saturday’s 2-1 reverse at Bournemouth and last week’s Carabao Cup exit to Tottenham and has left some wondering if City are entering a mini-crisis.

But what has brought about this dip in form? Is City’s lengthy injury list solely to blame, or are there other factors at play? Manchester City News’ writers have they say…

Man City’s injury crisis cannot be ignored

The significant number of injury issues City have had to deal with this season has certainly had an impact on their recent run of poor form, writes James Thompson.

Losing Rodri to a season-ending injury is arguably the worst thing that could have happened to City due to how much of an impact he has on the team on and off the ball.

However, being without players such as Jack Grealish, John Stones and Ruben Dias to name a few over the last few weeks has also made things difficult for Pep Guardiola and his team.

Given the number of matches City have had to play with the travelling and the fairly short rest time in between, rotation has been vital for the Blues boss.

Although with City’s first-team squad being rather small anyway, the Blues have had to call upon academy talents such as Jacob Wright and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.

With a fully fit squad, City compete for every trophy they play for. But with injuries cropping up here, there and everywhere, they have undoubtedly played a vital role in the club’s recent run of bad results.

Haaland and City’s goal issues

Manchester City’s problems at the back and in midfield are well documented, but there are also issues at the other end, says Tom Procter.

Fans are accustomed to seeing City sweep other teams aside, but that hasn’t really been the case this season with the exception of a couple of games.

Arguably, there has been a real overreliance on Haaland to score the goals and just lately, the Norwegian has seen his level dip compared to the start of the season.

Right now, there isn’t another regular source of goals in the team, and it’s possible that City are missing Julian Alvarez a bit. The Argentine was sold for huge money, but it seems his output has not yet been replaced.

Josko Gvardiol and John Stones being joint-second on City’s goalscoring charts indicates a problem.

Savinho has looked lively but is still yet to score for City, while Phil Foden has struggled to find the form he showed last season.

Man City’s aging midfield

First things first, Manchester City are paying the price for not finding an adequate deputy for officially the best player in the world: Rodri, writes Srinivas Sadhanand.

Since the Spaniard’s injury, City’s lack of physicality in the middle of the park while contesting duels and covering ground has well and truly been exposed.

As a result, teams like Sporting CP and AFC Bournemouth have sliced through the Sky Blues’ midfield for fun on the break.

However, their ongoing issue is not only tied to the club’s failure to replace Rodri but their underwhelming recruitment in midfield in recent years.

Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan were both signed at 29 and 33 years of age respectively and naturally, they are past their peak from an athletic perspective.

As for Matheus Nunes, his erratic technique means Pep Guardiola seemingly only trusts him to play out wide, where he is starting to redeem himself.

But all in all, Manchester City’s inability to keep teams at bay in transition is the reason why they have largely been a shambles defensively and a chunk of their wins have been papering over the cracks so far this season.