Pep Guardiola, Man City, 2024/25
© IMAGO
Pep Guardiola's Man City have lost yet again and appear to be spiralling out of control.
City were taken down 2-0 by Juventus in the Champions League, leaving them on just 8 points with two games left to play.
In the Premier League they've slipped from first place at the start of November all the way down to fourth by the middle of December.
Every time you think they can't get any worse, they do. Just when you think they're going to turn the corner, they don't.
After five defeats in a row across all competitions Man City went 3-0 up against Feyenoord in the Champions League. At last, a win! But no, they gave up three goals in the last 15 minutes of the game to draw 3-3. Then Liverpool beat them 2-0.
READ MORE:Three key reasons why Man City are COLLAPSING
They recovered from that to smash Nottingham Forest 3-0! Now, at least, they would turn the corner, right? Wrong. They were held 2-2 by Crystal Palace and then lost to Juve.
Next up? Man Utd and the Manchester Derby, followed by the shrewd and decisive Aston Villa. There's no guarantee that City get any points from those games.
Man City are in free fall, and it's time to ask the unthinkable question.
Pep Guardiola is going THROUGH IT.
© Amazon Prime - Pep Guardiola is going THROUGH IT.
Should Man City sack Pep Guardiola?
It is abundantly clear that Pep Guardiola does not have any ideas for how to fix Man City. He does not have a tactical trick up his sleeve, nor does he have a youth teamer to put into the team that can save the day.
Absent those things, Guardiola has no ability to arrest the severe and near total decline of Man City as a footballing force.
So, is his time up?
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Guardiola's contract was due to expire at the end of the season, and many had assumed this would be his last campaign and he would walk off into the sunset after the season (perhaps with a fifth straight title under his arm) alongside long-time Sporting Director Txiki Begiristain who is already confirmed to be departing at season's end.
Such was the panic induced by City's poor form that Guardiola even renewed his contract after the first four defeats. "Maybe players were apprehensive about his departure?" must have been the thinking from the City brass, and so a show of commitment would get everyone motivated to begin again!
Nope.
City celebrated Pep's new contract by getting slapped 4-0 at the Etihad by Tottenham. Nothing had changed. The same old patterns, the same old problems.
What is wrong with Man City?
The problems at Man City are clearly about age. Not Guardiola's age, but the players age. With the excepton of Erling Haaland and the now injured Rodri, the key members of the squad have been at the club since at least 2017.
Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Ederson, John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan.
These dudes are old.
Kyle Walker has played 719 senior matches for club and country.
© IMAGO - Kyle Walker has played 719 senior matches for club and country.
Not only are they old, but they have been going flat-out for years.
Very few teams win three titles in a row in English football, no one had ever won four in a row until Man City did just that last season.
This after winning the Treble in 2023.
Due to how often they failed, capturing that Champions League in 2023 had a sense of finality to it. They had the 100 points, they had the Domestic Quadruple, and now they finally had the holiest of holies: The Treble. It felt like the end of the journey for these core City players. Mission complete.
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But because of lackadaisical recruitment, every single one of those players continued to have a key role (except Ilkay Gundogan who departed for Barcelona, but a year later he's back in a key role) even though you can see they are physically spent.
There were signs of this collapse last season, to be honest. They were struggling around the mid-point of the season, not playing their best football.
But last season Rodri was the best player in the world, and as such he galvanised the side. And with Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez up-front, City's old guard (especially Kevin de Bruyne) squeezed out one last push to secure that fourth straight title. But even they ran out of steam in the Champions League, losing on penalties to a Real Madrid side who were there for the taking.
Rodri's Ballon d'Or is looking more and more justified by the day.
© IMAGO - Rodri's Ballon d'Or is looking more and more justified by the day.
Now Rodri is injured and Alvarez was sold (and not replaced, either) and as such, there is no one to rouse City. Their midfield unit is so fundamentally broken. They create almost nothing, which means opponents no longer fear their attack. And when opponents don't fear a Guardiola-style attack, they counter in numbers.
That's one thing Guardiola's sides are not set-up to deal with, especially at Man City where he doesn't truly have a stud centre-back to deal with counters themselves, or organise the defence to deal with them. Instead he has ghosts like Walker and Ruben Dias, or guys who are good but not quite top-class in Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake.
Then there's the fact that Ederson is terrible in goal.
It's just a mess.
The Final Verdict
So, should Man City sack Pep Guardiola?
They can if they want, but it won't solve anything. This isn't like usual underperforming teams, where it's clear the players have a lot to give they just need a change of management to give them new ideas.
Even with new ideas, City's core is still going to be these old men who have nothing left to give. Most of them are at or around the 700 game mark in their career.
There's no manager than can turn back time on all these dudes. And this isn't Barcelona so there's no La Masia to come to the rescue as Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Casado and co. have rescued the Blaugrana from their banter era.
Lamine Yamal is just one of the La Masia youngsters who have rescued Barcelona.
© IMAGO - Lamine Yamal is just one of the La Masia youngsters who have rescued Barcelona.
That's not happening at Man City.
They need new players. They need to spend. That is (quite appropriately, given it's City) the only solution to their issues.
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An entirely new starting three in midfield and a goalkeeper would not solve all of Man City's problems, but it would allow them to be a functional team again.
Will they make those moves? Time will tell. But if they don't? Man City may well keep sliding down the Premier League table to the point where they don't even finish inside the European places! Forget Champions League, these dudes would be lucky to make the Conference League!