Manchester City slipped to another defeat on Saturday against Brighton, and fans are starting to grow a little concerned.
The reigning Premier League champions lost 2-1 to Brighton at the Amex Stadium, and it’s now four losses in the trot for Pep Guardiola.
This has only happened once before in his managerial career at Bayern Munich, and the Manchester City manager has plenty to mull over during the next international break.
Currently, he is working with a small squad that has become even smaller in recent weeks due to injuries.
So some people have been a little perplexed at how little James McAtee has featured recently.
The youngster was promoted to the first-team squad at the start of the campaign, after impressing during pre-season.
But McAtee has only featured here and there, and certainly right now, it must be a bit of a confusing time for the starlet.
What Pep Guardiola has said about James McAtee this season
To date this season, McAtee has made five appearances, plus he started the Community Shield.
He has played a total of 231 minutes, making him one of the least-used players in the first-team.
On August 10, Guardiola said that he did not want to sell McAtee because of his quality in the small spaces (via Sky Sports).
At the start of October, after McAtee scored his first senior goal for City against Slovan Bratislava, Guardiola said (via mancity.com): “I always had the feeling that I believe more he can play here than he does. Hopefully, minutes can help him and show that he is part of that.
“Of course, he will not be a regular player this season but in a lot of games he will help us and when he plays like he did today I can always count on him perfectly.”
And then, ahead of the game with Brighton, Guardiola said: “Yes (we are close to seeing him start). It can happen. We don’t have many players, it can happen. It’s difficult when you don’t play many minutes but the rhythm and pace was really really good. Of course, he is there.”
In the past, Guardiola has also branded McAtee ‘special’ (via Sheffield Star).
- Who is James McAtee? All you need to know about the Man City prospect aiming to impress Pep Guardiola
McAtee must be confused
So there have been at least three occasions where Guardiola has spoken positively about McAtee and suggested he can help the team.
But now, as Manchester City contend with a spate of injuries, McAtee is still barely featuring.
During this current four-game losing streak, McAtee has played just 90 minutes, which all came in the loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
| James McAtee for Man City in 2024/25 so far |
| Appearances – 5 |
| Minutes played – 231 |
| Goals – 1 |
| Assists – 0 |
It just begs the question; if Guardiola really is as excited about McAtee as he makes out, then why isn’t he giving him more minutes right now, especially with City struggling to break teams in low blocks down?
Players like Ilkay Gundogan are really out of form, and yet McAtee is not playing.
McAtee thrived for the England U21s during the last international break, and he looked like he had plenty to offer for City. But the chances just haven’t come.
It must be very confusing for McAtee to hear Guardiola speaking about him positively in press conferences, but then not playing him when there are seemingly clear opportunities to do so.
Perhaps if this rate of minutes continues, we might be seeing him head out on loan in January, which would be a shame.
