This season, Man City is not the only one having problems with injuries. Tottenham, MU, Liverpool, Brighton… all lost many pillars for a long time. However, it is clear that Kevin De Bruyne’s injury right in the opening match greatly affected Man City’s playing style. Whatever you say, the Belgian star is the team’s captain and best midfielder. Without him, Erling Haaland also seems helpless.
Another important player, John Stones, also started the season with many physical problems. So far he has only started 4 matches in the Premier League this season. In addition, Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Nathan Ake all had to miss some matches due to health-related reasons.
In the recent match against Aston Villa, coach Guardiola did not even have enough people to fill the bench.
Everyone knows that Rodri is very important to Man City, but perhaps few people expect that his importance is so vital to the Blue team.
In the 4 matches that the Spanish midfielder could not participate in this season, Man City lost all 4. They lost to Newcastle in the League Cup, lost to Arsenal and Wolves in the Premier League in a series of 3 domestic matches that Rodri was suspended because of the red card. Most recently, they also lost to Aston Villa in a match where Rodri had to retire because he received 5 yellow cards.
Kovacic, Nunes, Rico Lewis and Kalvin Phillips have been used respectively to fill Rodri’s void, but so far none have shown they are capable of replacing the player who scored City’s only goal in the match. Champions League final last season.
Last season, Man City easily instilled fear in the entire Premier League. This is not surprising since Guardiola’s team scored 6 goals against MU in just 1 match, while Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea were all conceded 4 times by them. Even Real Madrid had to finish 0-4 against City at Etihad.
But this season is different. Rival teams seem to no longer be too afraid and are ready to attack Man City, after realizing there is no use trying to contain the defending champions. Chelsea recently scored 4 goals against City at Stamford Bridge, while Tottenham also scored 3 goals at the Etihad. Arsenal ended a 12-match losing streak against City, while Liverpool stopped The Citizens’ streak of 23 consecutive wins at the Etihad.
And not only the Big Six teams, the rest are also less afraid of City. Wolves were shocked with a 2-1 victory earlier this season, while Villa recently had their first victory over City since 2013.
Man City used to have many top left-backs, but after Oleksandar Zinchenko, Joao Cancelo and Benjamin Mendy left, they refused to find replacements and are somewhat paying the price for that.
Last season, Nathan Ake was often deployed at left back and he played well, but no matter what you say, the Dutch player is a central defender. Similar is rookie Josko Gvardiol, who is often asked to play left back this season.
Another problem is that Man City has not made any move to strengthen the left-back position. Gvardiol, who costs up to 77 million pounds, is being used to patch up this position, but surely City should still spend money to buy a “genuine” left-back.
Selling Cole Palmer to Chelsea is also a questionable decision from Man City’s leadership.
Dias made mistakes more often, Grealish lost his position, and Bernardo Silva also floundered. Good matches were very good but there were also many lackluster matches. We must also mention the fact that Kevin De Bruyne had to stop playing until now because of a recurring hamstring injury he suffered at the end of last season.