Manchester City Loss to Manchester United Exposes Huge Issue For Pep

Manchester City loss to Manchester United pushed them further back in the title race. Despite Arsenal splitting points with Nottingham Forest, the Cityzens now trail the Gunners by seven points after 22 rounds of matches.

That is not an insurmountable gap, but the way the Cityzens are playing, it seems to be big enough. Despite having nearly 70% ball-possession in the Manchester City loss against Manchester United, Pep Guardiola’s men were lucky not to suffer a bigger defeat at Old Trafford in Michael Carrick’s first match in charge.

Manchester City Loss Against Manchester United Featured Inept Displays by a Number of Players

It could have been guessed even before the start of the match that United would play for a draw and would employ a low block primarily. They did the same and went into counter-attacks at periodical intervals against Manchester City.

However, it was Manchester City’s inability to break open United’s defence that stood out in the match. United had only 28% ball-possession in the match and earned a solitary corner during the entire 90 minutes. Still, they managed to slice through the Cityzens’ defence with explosive counter-attacks primarily with the help of Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Patrick Dorgu and Bryan Mbeumo. That eventually led to the Manchester City loss.

With two inexperienced centre-backs starting the match in the absence of injured pair of Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol, the Manchester City full-backs could not go into overlaps frequently to aid their wingers. However, it was needed to break open United’s low block. Almost every time the City full-backs ventured forward, United responded with swift counter-attacks.

Among the City players, only Jeremy Doku, Rodri, Rayan Cherki and Gianluigi Donnaruma showed the kind of desire that was needed to win the match. Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, two of Manchester City’s senior players, had forgettable outings, with the latter being substituted by Cherki at half-time. As for Erling Haaland, the Norwegian had only a solitary shot on target, which was blocked by Lisandro Martinez. Haaland has not scored from open play in the last seven league matches now.

It makes one wonder whether the Manchester City players and their manager have enough motivation to push hard for yet another title. They have won six Premier League titles in the last eight years and maybe, there is not enough sense of urgency left in them to go all-out for another title. Maybe, there is enough complacency among most of their players.

Is This Pep Guardiola’s Last Season at Manchester City

Should Manchester City spend another season trophyless, which will be their second successive such one, questions will arise over Guardiola’s future at the club. The standards have remained very high at Manchester City, which means that even a manager as successful as Guardiola cannot escape criticism and scrutiny. Finishing another season trophyless might compel the 55-year-old Spaniard to consider his future at the club.

Yes, Manchester City’s defence was depleted, but it cannot be overlooked how ordinary Nico O’Reilly and Rico Lewis looked against Amad Diallo and Patrick Dorgu, respectively. Despite dominating possession, the Cityzens struggled to test Senne Lammens properly. Antoine Semenyo was largely ineffective and Bernardo and Foden, as already mentioned, merely went through the motions which contributed to the Manchester City loss.

Manchester City have now collected three points from their last four matches, which has helped Arsenal tremendously. The Gunners dropped points against Nottingham Forest, but the Manchester City loss eased the pressure on them. It is now for Guardiola’s men to pull up their socks and show that they mean business.