Pep Guardiola’s ‘unstable’ ageing Man City side cannot keep up with the Catalan’s tactical demands, writes MARTIN KEOWN
- Man City are in a battle to secure a top-four finish after a disappointing season
- Pep Guardiola’s ageing side are struggling to keep up with his tactical demands
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Will Liverpool recover from Everton blow in season-defining week?
Pep Guardiola is perhaps the greatest manager we’ve ever seen and it is hard to question someone who has won 39 trophies.
Not since his first season at Manchester City has he failed to get his hands on silverware — but this looks likely to be another campaign without any.
On the brink of elimination from the Champions League after their dramatic defeat by Real Madrid. Out of the Carabao Cup. City are still in the FA Cup but the Premier League title is all but gone. Their aim now is a top-four finish.
It’s an uneasy thing to say at this stage of the season but we are witnessing a team falling from greatness.
Once again this week, City were beaten by a late goal. It’s been a regular feature of their demise this season. The Madrid match was great theatre but there was no control in City’s performance.
They have lost five games this season in which they led, as many as in the last four seasons combined. When are this team going to rediscover their winning mentality? It was the ninth time in 24 games they have conceded twice in the space of 10 minutes.
Pep Guardiola has won 39 trophies in his 17-year managerial career with three different clubs
His Man City side are facing an unprecedented decline, just a year after winning a record-breaking fourth Premier League title in a row in 2023-24
Guardiola has only failed to win silverware once as a manager, in his first season at City in 2016
Guardiola tells us his City side are not ‘stable’. You get stability from consistency and winning. When you keep experiencing late setbacks, that eats away at your confidence.
The Catalan’s football principles are all about controlling possession in the middle of the park. He wants to pass teams into submission. He will not compromise on that but he does not have the players now to carry out his demands.
City still press high with a front five that includes Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, who don’t have the energy and youth to stop teams such as Madrid exposing their defence.
These players are football royalty but they are not young men anymore. Jack Grealish didn’t look at full fitness and Savinho kept giving the ball away. Madrid were able to play out from the back without any real pressure on the ball.
City are losing possession more often in central areas and their attacking shape leaves them wide open to counter-attacks. Madrid ended the game having had almost twice as many shots as City.
There are still moments of brilliance. Erling Haaland’s goal was a thing of beauty. Josko Gvardiol played a brilliant reverse pass, followed his run and chested it down for Haaland, who produced a super finish.
Tactically, when City attacked Real, both their full backs tucked in centrally alongside John Stones, a defender playing as a makeshift midfielder. That effectively left City with three defenders in their engine room and they didn’t look so assured on the ball.
In the Treble team, I thought Pep had cracked the code when he asked Stones to step into midfield and put Kyle Walker in the backline to supply extra pace alongside Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias, snuffing out counter-attacks.
City are struggling to keep up with Guardiola’s core tactical principle of possession retention
Newcastle’s trip to the Etihad could lead to a huge points swing in the top four race
That was the perfect balance between attack and defence. City don’t have that anymore.
We doubt Pep at our peril. He has only signed a two-year deal but he has shown in the past that is ample time for him to work out the answers. He will have to find the balance quickly on Saturday because if there is a team and a manager perfectly suited to exposing City’s flaws, it is Newcastle.
Eddie Howe’s tactical set-up over two Carabao Cup games against Arsenal, another team who want to control the ball, left the Gunners exposed to the pace of Alexander Isak, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon.
Both sides at the Etihad on Saturday know there is a Champions League place up for grabs. Newcastle have had a taste of it and are hungry for more. It would be unthinkable for City not to be part of it so it is time for Pep’s men to refocus their minds and regain their control.
