Manchester City are uncharacteristically uncertain at the moment, and Pep Guardiola has a conflation of issues to deal with regarding his misfiring squad. twoht
At around the hour mark in the derby on Saturday lunchtime, all seemed set fair for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola. City had played out a fairly pallid first half, but they’d improved in the opening stages of the second and the introduction of Jack Grealish, who scored two minutes after his introduction, felt like the sort of tactical masterstroke that has come to be readily associated with this club in recent years.
All of this leaves Pep Guardiola with riddles that he may not be able to completely solve before the end of this season. Manchester City are a different team. The arrival of Erling Haaland last summer necessitated change to the way the team moved the ball around the pitch, and when that has worked the results have been obviously sensational; Haaland remains on course to become the Premier League’s record goalscorer in a season by some considerable margin.
It can feel like Manchester City are playing with ten men when he’s not getting the service he requires. This all raises the question of whether teams in the modern era can afford this sort of player, whether his lack of engagement in the game might even end up costing more through points dropped than even 21 goals in 17 games can cover. This may well end up as one of football’s unanswerable questions, but it’s one that Guardiola needs to try to find a way of answering.
And the midfield looks like an issue, with Rodri the only member currently playing close to the fullness of their capability. The acquisition of Kalvin Phillips last summer hasn’t solved anything, while the form of other players such as Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo seems to have significantly dipped. There have been times since they got back from the World Cup when they’ve looked like they could do with a holiday.
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