Man City: Rodri injury not Pep Guardiola’s only problem as Ilkay Gundogan struggles and Phil Foden starts slowly

De Bruyne's declining fitness

Kevin De Bruyne had to wait until the 74th minute to play against Tottenham, after which the outcome was a foregone conclusion. During the run of five consecutive defeats that have left Manchester City's season in disarray, he has only managed to play a total of 38 minutes.

His lack of fitness as he struggles to fully recover from a hamstring injury he suffered in September is a major headache for Pep Guardiola. City were able to do without him for much of last season, but it's a different story now that Rodri is also absent from midfield.

De Bruyne has not started a match since City's Champions League opener against Inter two months ago. At the age of 33, with more than 700 appearances for club and country to his name, the workload is catching up with him in the form of repeated hamstring problems.

Guardiola hopes to have him available for matches soon. But as with his cameo against Spurs, the concern is that it may come too late. The last two seasons have shown that his body can no longer be relied on.Nick Wright

Gundogan is unaware

It seemed like the signing of the summer. Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer. Five-time Premier League champion and three-time winner Guardiola did not want to see the club leave in 2023.

What do they say about never going back? After all the warm sentiment and good feelings of Gundogan's return from Barcelona, ​​the harsh reality is that the midfielder – so far – seems a shadow of the player he first played in Manchester.

Overwhelmed in midfield by an energetic Tottenham on Saturday, Gundogan was looking for shadows, particularly for the opening goal when he lost James Maddison. “Gundogan couldn't get around the pitch today,” Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp said in an analysis. “He couldn't get close to anyone and his focus was not good.

“Gundogan has to follow that run [from Maddison] and that's really bad of him. He just couldn't match Spurs' energy in midfield throughout the game.”

Touch and technique remain: Gundogan saw more of the ball than any other player and his passing accuracy is well into the 90s. But can he still meet the intensity demands of the Premier League? Peter Smith

What happened to Grealish?

Jack Grealish is another player hampered by injury problems. His substitute appearance at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday was his first since the 2-1 win over Wolves in October.

He has of course played his part in a string of trophies since his £100million arrival from Aston Villa, but on an individual level his performance has been modest, to put it kindly, with just eleven goals and twelve assists in 82 Premier League games . matches over the past four seasons.

It is a lower total than he managed in his last season and a half at Villa, including a three-month injury layoff.

Amazingly, he has not found the net for Manchester City in any competition since the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace last December.

Grealish has had to recalibrate his game under Guardiola. He is less of an outsider, more of a system player. It comes at the expense of goals and assists and that's a problem at a time when so many others, including Erling Haaland, are struggling to produce. Nick Wright

Walker's defense is under scrutiny

When you launch a podcast titled, “You'll Never Beat Kyle Walker,” it's a pretty clear indication that one-on-one defense is considered a strength. But at 34, Walker's ability to handle such situations is finally coming under scrutiny.

The sight of Timo Werner pulling away from him for the fourth Tottenham goal may have owed a little to the circumstances of the match, but it was also alarming. The English defender has relied on that pace for years to get him and his team out of trouble.

His top speed this season is 33.61 kilometers per hour – not slow but also outside the top 100 players in the Premier League. There is some noise in that data because it depends on whether you should run, but it is still a concern because it indicates a decline.

The statistics show that Walker has been dribbled past by an opponent more often so far this season than at any point in his Premier League career in the last decade. With City struggling to contain those counter-attacks, they need Walker at his best. He's not. Adam Bate

Foden's slow start drags on…

In the first minutes it seemed that the spark had finally returned. Phil Foden booked within a minute and then pulled the strings in the build-up to City's early chances. But Foden hasn't been on fire for some time and the flames soon went out as Spurs scorched to a huge victory.

Last season's Player of the Year remained anonymous at the start of this new season. After posting high figures for goals and assists last year, Foden has managed just one assist in nine Premier League appearances this season.

After being sidelined by illness early in the season, Foden's playing time continued to be disrupted, with him withdrawn from the November England squad before starting on Saturday.

Fitness, form, momentum: none of that seems to be on Foden's side at the moment, with City needing their key men to step up. When will we see the real, groundbreaking Foden emerge again? Peter Smith

Haaland's wasteful finishing

Haaland squandered a number of chances in Manchester City's defeat to Tottenham, failing to find the net with seven shots. Haaland is not to blame for Guardiola's defensive crisis, but his form in front of goal has dipped at a bad time.

Three goals in eight Premier League games may be satisfying for some strikers, but for Haaland it is a slump – not least because the chances kept coming. His expected goals total in that eight-game span is 7.04. He is four goals short.

No player in the Premier League has underperformed by a greater margin than Haaland in that time. It cost them against Brighton and was the reason why they failed to find the net for the first time this season in the Premier League in the defeat to Spurs.

Haaland cannot take the blame for the four who went in at the other end and will certainly start scoring heavily again soon as long as the supply is there. But his sub-par finishing has been a factor in City's poor form. Even he cannot escape criticism.Adam Bate

The aging team needs renewal

Many of the problems Guardiola faces come back to the same issue: an aging squad. Against Tottenham, nine of the fourteen Manchester City resident players were aged 29 or over.

As noted in Saturday Night Football, Manchester City have given a higher percentage of minutes (52.1 percent) to players aged 29 or older than any other Premier League team this season.

It is only normal that certain people drop out.

City only have a handful of players in what are generally considered 'peak years', between the ages of 24 and 29, and perhaps the most important of these, Rodri, is obviously sidelined this season.

Guardiola insists he is ready for the challenge that awaits him after extending his contract. The reconstruction will have to be extensive. But for now, he has to solve problems on the spot. Nick Wright