Ederson's startlingly erratic performance against Feyenoord was symptomatic of the failings that have led to the Premier League champions' alarming slump in form
Josep 'Pep' Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, looks dejected during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD5 match between Manchester City and Feyenoord at City of Manchester Stadium
Pep Guardiola has big decisions to make amid his side's slump
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Image: James Gill - Danehouse)
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If there was one transfer that Pep Guardiola expected to happen last summer - but one that failed to materialise - it was probably the departure of Ederson.
Behind the scenes, the Etihad was abuzz with talks of Ederson heading to Saudi Arabia, the Brazilian keeper’s head turned by eye-watering sums of money after seven years in Manchester. The move did not happen but who bore major responsibility for it failing to happen is unclear.
There are suggestions City wanted £50million for a player who was about to turn 31 and that even Al Ittihad baulked at that.
Whatever the reasons, Ederson stayed at the Etihad and remained an automatic first-choice. But his performance against Feyenoord was an emblem of City’s current, alarming struggles - sloppy, casual, lacking in concentration, irresponsible.
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Perhaps Ederson is bored. Subconsciously, even. He has won six Premier Leagues, a Champions League, two FA Cups, four EFL Cups, one UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.
Perhaps a few of his team-mates are bored. There has been a crushing predictability about City in recent years. People go on about the competitiveness of the Premier League but the same team has won it four times on the spin.
When City go to Anfield on Sunday, it will be the first time in seven years that they have started a Premier League match as outsiders to win it. That’s not competitive.
Ederson and Nathan Ake look distraught
This was the scene at the Etihad immediately after Spurs had scored their fourth goal - three nights later, Ederson would concede another three
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Image:
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Let’s face it, to the non-City fan, this slump has been the most compelling spell of football Pep Guardiola has produced for a long time. Complacency has clearly been a key issue in the slump, which is perfectly understandable, considering their years of domination.
Let’s say there is a five percent drop-off in determination, in mental application, in win-at-all-costs focus. That five percent drop produces sequences such as the one City are experiencing now. It is particularly damaging if that five percent drop affects players who have been the cornerstones of the Guardiola success story - such as the keeper.
Until Tuesday night at the Etihad, Ederson had not been conspicuously terrible but he was shocking against Feyenoord and has now conceded 15 goals in his last five games. It is hard to see Guardiola having much to lose if he replaces Ederson with Stefan Ortega for the trip to Anfield. Ederson has long been seen as an untouchable but he really should be dropped.
Kevin de Bruyne is one of the highly-decorated Manchester City players who might just be finding it mentally tough to reach the levels they have been at for so long
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Considering his style of keeping, there are always going to be aberrations such as the one that played out against the Dutch. But it is hard not to wonder if a drop in motivation - a dip in urgency - has not caused Ederson’s contributions to be less than convincing.
And that applies to a lot of his team-mates - to Kyle Walker, to John Stones, to Kevin de Bruyne, to Bernardo Silva, among others. There are a lot of contributory factors to this City trough - Rodri’s injury and the club’s surprisingly ill-considered recruitment and sales, for example - but it is hard not to feel that this is some sort of natural end to a generation’s era.
And Ederson is a leader of that generation. Individually, City’s most-decorated players will have many years left on the elite stage. Collectively, this season is beginning to look more and more like their last number.
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