Manchester City’s chances of winning a third consecutive league title currently reside somewhere between implausible and impossible and that’s before we enter the new year.
After accumulating 198 points across the previous two campaigns, while playing an exceptional standard of innovative football that often astounded, Pep Guardiola’s side now lie 14 points adrift of leaders Liverpool having failed to win more than a third of their fixtures to date. The decline has been startling at times with the swiftness of it as notable as the deterioration itself and this has led some to question whether it’s the beginning of the end for one of the great creations in the modern era.
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Naturally, immersed in the discussions that have arisen from this surprising development have been attempts to identify the root causes and unless you have avoided all media since August you will know who has taken almost the entirely of the blame. It’s the defence, deprived of Vincent Kompany and Aymeric Laporte for very different reasons which has necessitated the conversion of Fernandinho to centre-back, learning as he goes. As regards to the others, John Stones’ fitness issues continue while Nicolas Otamendi is persistently a law unto himself and when all of this congeals together it has resulted in defensive horror-shows against Norwich, Wolves and Manchester United, rife with individual errors and hapless vulnerability.
Where once City were imperious now they have a clear Achilles heel. It is a back-line that is ‘shambolic’ according to the Daily Mirror’s Andy Dunn. It is ‘dangerously slow’ too if you believe Sam Cunningham.
Yet, although a defence of City’s defence would trouble even the finest defence lawyer, what confounds is why it is only the centre-backs and full-backs who are being routinely criticised while the equally culpable midfield gets off scot-free.
Concentrating on Manchester City’s derby loss – a defeat brought about by swift counter-attacks by the visitors that too easily exposed a rear-guard all at sea and the same game pertinently that prompted the brutal Mirror and i evaluations – Rafa Benitez said this: “City were trying to press but they were too long, they were going late, and with the pace that United have, they found the space and they could run.”
In the view of one of the shrewdest minds in football it was the midfield that let the champions down not the scrambling individuals so often faced by multiple attackers bearing down on them in acres of unprotected space. He is right too.
Because while the majestic Laporte has been a seismic loss for Guardiola’s side this term a bigger loss for them has been Fernandinho in midfield, relocated as he is to Laporte’s position. The Brazilian in recent seasons has been a one-man army in the holding role, averaging between 1.8 to 2.5 tackles won per game since 2016. In comparison, Ilkay Gundogan has made 0.6 tackles.
When Rodri’s acclimatisation to English football is factored in too – not to mention his distinct lack of pace – along with David Silva’s wearying legs it is little wonder that the intensity of City’s engine room has dipped substantially this term.
As we have witnessed, the ramifications of this have been huge as a midfield that used to fiercely protect what lay behind them now deals with its own set of problems. And this has left a defence not only exposed to breaking opponents but perhaps to unfair criticism also.