“We are an old team. We have no replacements and they play a lot of minutes, that's a reality.” Pep Guardiola's candid admission On Wednesday evening there was nothing we have never heard before. But somehow the tone with which it was delivered was different. Almost a Defaatist.
In the same press conference, Guardiola accepted that his distressing side cannot win the Champions League, nor can they compete with the best teams in the Premier League, which according to him Liverpool, Arsenal and … Brighton include. “They are kilometers better than we do. We have a thousand problems,” he said.
A look at the Premier League will tell you that Brighton, as it looks, is little threat to the fourth place of Man City, but the sentiment is nevertheless relevant. Guardiola's side cannot deal with teams that have mastered the transitional game. They just don't have the legs.
39.6 percent of the minutes played by Man City players in the Premier League this season were given to those of 30 years or older. What hope do they have this weekend against Arsenal, live on Super Sunday?
In reality, Guardiola's midweek reflections were somewhat confused after another debilitating representation that faltered on the edge of European elimination. He called his team old and tired but still special. He said that City cannot win the Champions League now, but in two weeks “who knows?”
Since then they have been pulled against Real Madrid in a blockbuster Champions League play-off.
And now we are stuck to the Fectuating Spectrum of the Delicate axis of the city forever. Are they back on track? Are they turned around? Is this the start of an exciting comeback course?
All those questions will be tested in the Emirates on Sunday, while Arsenal attacks the biggest weaknesses in the city in the hope of helping their own attempt to catch Liverpool at the top of the Premier League. And Mikel Arteta will have done his homework.
So many well -known issues opposed Club Brugge when City 399 made successful steps, but did not succeed in taking a single shot on goal in the first half. Their structure was slow and predictable, just like the composition of their midfield, and Bruges was given the space to combat on different occasions. City gave the first goal to a new fast break.
Erling Haaland had the least touches (25) of an outfield player to play for 90 minutes and only registered one shot. Ilkay Gundogan was actually the most accurate passer -by of the city of the ball, but could not handle it when the possession turned. And the same can be said of Mateo Kovacic.
Despite the scoring of the equalizer, Kovacic did little else to convince that he is the profile of the player to fill the only rodri roll – outdated legs do not fit in with a midfielder in the modern game.
Then there are problems on the back. Man City has used eight Center -back combinations this season in 23 Premier League matches -Manuel Akanji has had four different partners. Ruben Dias has been the biggest loss and missed nine of their last 14 games. The city admits more and wins less if Dias is absent.
This difficult, defensive fragile version of City has of course been remarkably frequent this season. And yet measures to tackle missing parts in the January transfer window have ignored the clear imbalance.
Alarm bells have been loud enough to punish £ 130 million on three newcomers this month – Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis – none of them play in midfield. Has the love of Guardiola been lost for game makers? What happened to the original PEP ball?
The lack of midfield options of the city that is possible or intelligent enough to play the style of Pep, has certainly been the largest recruitment failure of the club of recent years – none of Kalvin Phillips, Matheus Nunes, Kovacic or the recurring Gundogan, op 34, fits with 34, to 34, the discount.
But by moderning different means together, the immediate plan must be because it is far from the obsessive nature of Guardiola to admit the defeat, even if poorly prepared nunes is the emergency replacement for Kyle Walker – who is to the right to AC Milan Departed – Right -Back.
Perhaps it is now about short -term pain for long -term profit. Although versions have been largely loaded and defective, Guardiola will point out the fact that City has won four of the five Premier League matches since December 29 – and collected most points (13) while most of the goals (17) from each side in it scored period.
Champions don't forget and the genius of Guardiola is usually a backup plan.
Due to the last trick, City is going to be longer and more direct to bypass the middle third part of the field, where they suffer the most. Goalkeeper Edererson helped Haaland for the second goal of City against Chelsea last weekend, a tactical shift that has happened more often to fight a high press. Of the passes of the city after the break, 13.3 percent long compared to five percent in the first period.
More generally, Ederson has completed 31 passes to Haaland this season and bypassed 6.9 defenders on average when finding the striker. Simple but effective.
Guardiola would be wise to surround Haaland with pace and dynamics against Arsenal. Savinho emerged to change the match against Bruges in the week, while Marmoush was a direct and willing runner against Chelsea. He also recorded the second highest top speed of each player on the field, with the energy of Josko Gvardiol as the perfect sidekick.
Yes, Man City has problems.
Their midfield vacuum is gradually clear since the loss of Rodri against Arsenal in September. But this is also a team with redeeming qualities, led by an Erudite manager, who now has to prove that the up and down campaign of his party has not yet been finished.
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