Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha believes Manchester City are “still capable of challenging for the title” this season.
The reigning champions have had wobbles in previous campaigns but the injury to Rodri has seriously affected them and Saha told Casino Utan Spelpaus that manager Pep Guardiola must solve their midfield problems if they are to stay in contention:
“I do think that Man City is still capable of challenging for the title because Pep Guardiola is known to find solutions, but at the moment you can really see that there is absolutely no idea.”
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“They have to do something. At this moment in time, they need something to refresh the team and must look at doing something in January. They need to challenge some players that think, ‘I’ve done it for too many years’.”
“There’s no doubt that this is a challenge, but I don’t think they are far off. It’s hard when you’re missing Rodri. There’s not many Rodri’s in the world, that’s why he has his Ballon d’Or. Finding a solution will [be] Pep Guardiola’s mission now.”
Will signing a replacement for Rodri in January help City?
It is believed that the Cityzens will look to bring in a midfielder during the next transfer window but some fans feel it may come too late to save their season.
Guardiola’s men did get back to winning ways against Nottingham Forest midweek, but they remain nine points adrift of Liverpool at the top of the table. They are also behind both Chelsea and Arsenal.
City will need to go on a winning run between now and the New Year to have any real chance of keeping their title challenge alive. If they can do that, then new recruits could still salvage the campaign.
City have some tough matches coming up
The club’s hopes of getting to January unscathed depends on them picking up some big results. They have an away game at Crystal Palace this weekend which won’t be easy.
Guardiola’s side then have the Manchester derby and an away fixture at Aston Villa. To close out the month, they do have two kinder matches versus Everton (home) and Leicester (away).
Find out who is in Manchester City’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here