Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City crisis has the team in a tailspin, having won only one of their last 11 matches across all competition. That should be considered as a shocking run for any club in the world, much less the team that has won four consecutive Premier League titles.
Somehow, things are no longer falling in place for Guardiola’s men, who have scored only 13 goals in their last 11 matches. Manchester United beat them 2-1 last weekend to pile on their misery, and they’re falling far behind the top clubs. It should force Guardiola to do something about the way his team is playing.
Manchester City Crisis: High-press should be more intense
Because of some reason or the other, the out-of-form Cityzens have not been able to apply their high-press as effectively of late as they should have. Erling Haaland does not do much work off the ball and Phil Foden has not been pressing very effectively either. Jeremy Doku is known for his defensive work and does not do much to win the ball back immediately after losing it while trying to dribble past opposition players.
That means that almost none of Manchester City’s attacking players in their 3-2-4-1 formation except, maybe, Bernardo Silva does much to win the ball back in the final third itself. Now, City’s formation often becomes a 2-3-4-1 while having possession, with their two centre-backs being quite high.
Their three-man midfield while on possession typically includes someone like Josko Gvardiol or Manuel Akanji, who advances to play as a holding midfielder. However, if they fail to win the ball back in the final third, their opposition usually plays a long ball to their own half, which is occupied usually by only a couple of centre-backs.
This means that the presence of the extra defensive man in midfield is usually nullified, as he cannot do much about the ball played over his head to the defence. Thus, there is not much scope for the Manchester City midfielders to press in the middle third and their centre-backs run the risk of being outrun by the opposition’s attackers. With Kyle Walker losing some pace, the situation is further aggravated.
Hence, it is of paramount importance for the English champions to press effectively higher up the pitch. Otherwise, they will always run the risk of conceding goals from counter-attacks. It has been demonstrated time and again that Manchester City is vulnerable to such counter-attacks.
Rodri’s absence has definitely hurt them, as the Spanish defensive midfielder is quite adept at winning the ball back in the final third itself. Only Bernardo seems to be able to do that among the Manchester City players who are fit at the moment.
It remains to be seen whether Guardiola does something about it in the upcoming matches to end this Manchester City crisis. It seems to be of great importance to his team. In order to reverse the tide, the Cityzens will have to be more pro-active in the final third and keep the opposition defence under more pressure. If they are unable to do it, it will be very difficult for them to halt the underwhelming run.