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Writer's pictureConnor Booth

Manchester City's Record Losing Run Proves Guardiola's Work Is Not Done Yet

Updated: Nov 26

Perhaps the only challenge Pep Guardiola's Manchester City team are yet to complete is to win the title from a seemingly-impossible position. This isn't really anything to do with the fact that they've failed to come from behind, but more the fact that this is pretty much as bad as it's been since the Spaniard took over.


Four titles in a row is a special achievement in any league and in the Premier League, it's the record for the most consecutive titles won.


But to extend their record to five titles in a row would be quite something even for this all-conquering Manchester City team, with Liverpool now eight points ahead of Guardiola's side ahead of their meeting at Anfield next weekend.


City's embarrassing 4 - 0 pummelling at the hand of Tottenham this weekend matches their biggest defeat under Pep Guardiola, and in fact the biggest loss of his managerial career.



It says a lot about Guardiola's connection with the club then that he signed a new contract over the international break, extending his time at the club during his worst spell of the eight years he's had at the Etihad Stadium.


So what is happening to Manchester City and how do they go about getting back on track?


The Run


City's run of five straight defeats is the longest competitive losing run Pep Guardiola has suffered as a manager.


Even before the Pep days, City weren't a team who tended to go on these sorts of losing runs; their last five match losing streak was in 2006 under Stuart Pierce, some ten years before Guardiola took over.



Perhaps the biggest concern about this losing run for City, eighteen years on from when they last had one this bad, is the varying nature of the defeats. That is to say that it's not one recurring problem for City; everything has gone wrong in the past month.


Although the losing run did start at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Guardiola was forced into several changes and ended the 2 - 1 Carabao Cup defeat with what was essentially a second-string team on the pitch.


Not a result City were aiming for obviously but also not exactly a disaster, especially given the incredibly demanding schedule the English teams competing in European competition face this season.


The other results however have been more worrying for the Champions. For their Premier League trip to Bournemouth, Pep Guardiola insisted that his side would be missing a whole host of first team players.



Many of those players ended up either starting the game or coming off the bench, which led to criticism of Guardiola that wasn't dissimilar to the "dark arts" digs supporters threw at Arsenal earlier in the season.



But in the Spaniard's defence, City had little choice but to ask players to play through pain, and it was clear from the lack of energy that several players who featured at the Vitality Stadium weren't 100% fit.


After Bournemouth took an early lead through Evanilson, City piled on the pressure but just couldn't score. By the time Gvardiol did pull a goal back, Antoine Semenyo had already doubled the Cherries' lead.



For Bournemouth it was the culmination of perhaps their best three weeks of Premier League football, in which they beat Arsenal and Manchester City either side of earning a point away to Aston Villa.


But City won't see it as bad luck to run into a team at the wrong time. They didn't turn up and they were punished.


The same happened three days later when Manchester City headed to Portugal to face Sporting CP in now-Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim's last home game in charge of the Portuguese Champions.



It was clear right from the off that the Sporting players were going to leave everything out on the pitch for their manager. After City took an early lead, the home side piled on the pressure, with star-striker Viktor Gyokeres equalising right before the break.


Gyokeres then netted two second-half penalties to complete a hat-trick in a 4 - 1 Sporting win, with Max Araujo scoring in the first minute of the second half.



In fact, Sporting scored twice in the first four minutes of the second half, and that included the time taken for the first of Gyokeres' penalties to be awarded by the referee and checked by VAR.


City were embarrassed in Portugal in a way that seems like a distant memory not only for their own supporters but also for those of every other club in England.


Sporting were outstanding, make no mistake, but the fact that they scored the quick-fire double after the break and that two of their four goals were penalties highlights how thoroughly outclassed Guardiola's team was.


To compound the misery of the evening, Erling Haaland struck the bar from the penalty spot with City trailing by two goals.



What City (and Haaland) needed the following weekend then was a quick start at the Amex Stadium against in-form Brighton; that's exactly what they got.


After dominating the opening 23 minutes, Erling Haaland bundled the ball over the line to give the Champions a vital lead on the South Coast.



Up until half-time, City searched for a second goal, but Brighton held out. Interestingly, Brighton hadn't (and still haven't) lost a game in which they've conceded first in the Premier League this season.


They kept that record up in spectacular fashion, scoring twice in five minutes late in the game to turn it around and hand Manchester City their fourth straight defeat.


Much like in their defeat at Bournemouth, City looked as though they simply lacked the energy to keep Brighton out for 90 minutes, with the fresh legs of Joao Pedro causing havoc for City's weary defence.



Pedro scored the equaliser himself before starting the move which led to Matt O'Riley's Premier League debut goal.


An 83rd-minute winner against Manchester City is a Premier League debut for the ages.



After the defeat to Brighton came an international break, during which Pep Guardiola signed his two-year contract extension.


Many of City's stars were left at home in Manchester with the hope of rejuvenating the team for the visit of Tottenham this weekend.


It didn't work.


Spurs scored with two of their first three shots of the match, shredding through a dominant Manchester City team on the counter attack with James Maddison scoring both goals.



Pedro Porro, a former Manchester City academy player, was unmarked to score Tottenham's third less than ten minutes after the break before Brennan Johnson finished off a brilliant run from Timo Werner in stoppage time to make it 4 - 0.


This defeat was the heaviest Pep Guardiola has ever suffered at home as a manager and matches the biggest defeat of his managerial career.


What will particularly annoy the Spaniard is the avoidable nature of three of the four Tottenham goals.



Take nothing away from the second Spurs goal, it was a sensational 1-2 between Maddison and Son before a lovely finish from the England midfielder. But the other three were poor from City's point of view.


The main issue was simply that Spurs looked more willing to run. Their players eased into space from counter attacks, with both Porro and Johnson completely unmarked when they found the net.



It's not just the results that are the problem for City; they just can't seem to put a good performance together over 90 minutes.


Rodri


Manchester City's struggles can be largely explained by the Rodri-shaped whole in their midfield. It was made worse by Mateo Kovacic's absence against Spurs; this was just the second game since Kovacic signed for the Champions that City had been without either of them.



But the main characteristic of City (and Arsenal for that matter) in the past two seasons has been their ability to completely control games. It's what has set them apart from the rest.


Kovacic is able to protect City's defence and he's able to go forward and support their attack, but he struggles playing both roles at the same time. This is what the very best number sixes are capable of.



That's nothing against Kovacic, who is more of an eight, but it explains why City are suddenly struggling to control games and why they're so vulnerable on the counter attack.


Replacements are being considered for a potential January signing, but there are two problems for City in this respect.


The first and perhaps most obvious one is that Rodri will be back next season. No midfielder in the world is likely to keep the Ballon d'Or winner out of Guardiola's midfield, especially not now that it's become clear how much City rely on the Spanish international.



On top of this, City have an enormous 115-charge case over their head which could jeopardise not only their transfer business but also their future in the Premier League.


Loan deals are always an option, but it's very rare to see a high profile player make a loan move; why would a parent club let a star player go without a transfer fee and to a rival no less?


Raheem Sterling's loan move from Chelsea to Arsenal is an example of how this sort of deal can work, but the former Manchester City and Liverpool winger was out of form in West London and hasn't exactly hit the ground running since moving to the Emirates.



The Champions may well have to find another way to cope without their number 16 then, with the chances of Rodri playing again this season very slim.


This begs the question of how they're going to cope at Anfield and beyond later in the season. For the answer, they may be able to look at their Premier League rivals.


Mirroring Arsenal & Liverpool


Both Arsenal and Liverpool have grown to rely on individuals just as much as Manchester City.


Liverpool's record without Mohamed Salah and Arsenal's without Martin Odegaard, while not quite as awful as City's current run, are notably worse than their usual high standards.


But what both Arsenal and Liverpool have proven capable of is securing results without their usual number six (as long as they have Odegaard and Salah available).


Ryan Gravenberch isn't really a natural six anyway, but more an eight who Arne Slot has adapted into the six role. Make no mistake, he has adapted to this new role incredibly well, far surpassing Wataru Endo's performances in the role last season.



But the fact remains that Gravenberch is far more attacking than either Rodri or any of Arsenal's defensive midfield options.


Under Arne Slot at least, Liverpool's philosophy seems to be that they'll simply score enough goals to reverse any they concede, which in the most part has worked so far.


It's worth noting however that Liverpool have exactly the same number of points from their fixtures this season as they did from the equivalent matches last term, perhaps pointing to the slightly easier fixtures they've enjoyed than their title rivals.


Arsenal offer a different approach.


When they find themselves without Declan Rice, instead of trying to score a flurry of goals, they play two holding midfielders in front of their defence, making a near-impenetrable wall.


This has been made possible with deep midfield depth, with Mikel Merino and Thomas Partey becoming the latest pair to share the role in Rice's absence against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.



In the four games the Gunners have played without Rice, they've conceded only two goals, one of which was a very controversial penalty away to Inter Milan.


So there are two schools of thought among City's main rivals as to how they can fill the gap left by Rodri's injury. The Liverpool way, which is simply to throw most of their outfield players forward, or the Arsenal way, which is to drop as deep as possible and shut out the opposition.


Looking at the availability City have at the moment, they'd struggle to find one defensive midfield player let alone two, so the Liverpool way is probably more suitable for them.


This could be achieved by deploying Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva in midfield. Gundogan, like Gravenberch, can play slightly deeper than the other two, but really it would leave City with six attackers on the pitch.




However Manchester City do go about solving this issue, they need to get to it as quickly as possible. They host Feyenoord on Tuesday night in a crucial Champions League match as they look to get back into the top eight of the League Phase.


But the big test comes five days later at Anfield, where, if City lose, they will leave Merseyside 11 points behind the league leaders.


Worse than that, with the rest of the Premier League's top six winning at the weekend, City could drop out of the top four altogether if results go against them again this coming weekend.


This really feels like the biggest test of Pep Guardiola's time at the Etihad. He faces the task of turning around the longest losing run of his managerial career to get Manchester City back in the Premier League title race and the top eight of the Champions League.



City's next game may be against Feyenoord on Tuesday, but really all eyes are on the visit to Anfield on Sunday.

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