MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 15: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Manchester United FC at Etihad Stadium on December 15, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
There is not one single reason for Manchester City's inexplicable drop in form. There are many factors, all making the next worse.
Injuries are an inescapable starting point, yet the injuries didn't concede four goals against Sporting and Spurs, or three against Feyenoord, or two against United to collapse. Injuries haven't stopped any cohesive supply to Erling Haaland, and they can't be blamed for 'stupid' decision-making as Bernardo Silva puts it.
In the stands, the initial reaction to the losing run was supportive. Now, there are murmurs of discontent, even stretching to the manager. City haven't been used to this kind of form for 20 years.
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'City lost five in a row' was the gallows humour a few weeks ago. In Turin last week the chant was 'we're f---ing s---.' City have been singing about going down with a billion in the bank since February 2023. The mood in the stands has changed as the collapses have kept coming.
In general, fans have reacted well (or at least rationally) to a run that has turned the season upside down. They have seen more success and silverware than they could have ever imagined, so Guardiola and his players have plenty of credit in the bank.
But that doesn't make them immune from criticism and the least supporters expect is players fighting for the shirt, regardless of what they have done in the past.
In the stands and in the media, there is one question everybody is asking. But the truth is there is no easy answer to the simple question of why Manchester City have suddenly stopped winning football games.
When MEN Sport asked supporters on social media for the reasons behind the drop in form, the results were shocking. (That is, because they were balanced, fair and receptive to alternative viewpoints - not what you usually expect on X.)
Of almost 500 responses on a poll asking for the main problem at City, 48 per cent put it down to confidence and simple mistakes. They go hand in hand, with Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo and Phil Foden all accepting a confidence issue in the dressing room, even if Guardiola publicly insists that isn't the problem.
Click on the post below to read the debate around where it's all going wrong for City and have your say in the comments below this article:
Around a quarter feel injuries are the main problem. It's the root of the wretched form, but as the MEN's chief City writer Simon Bajkowski writes this week: "Injuries have caused Manchester City to collapse but Manchester City cannot blame injuries for their collapse."
And then a considerable number feel the squad are not playing for the manager, with around ten per cent asking questions of the manager.
Why Guardiola? Surely he is the one person immune from criticism.
"Wanting a tiny squad and sticking by old players which has burned them out," said one fan. "Selecting tired veterans in low priority matches that started the vicious cycle of low fitness," offered another. The uncertainty around Guardiola's future until his recent renewal is also a possible factor.
There is no outright blame on Guardiola, simply reasonably questions of his approach to the injury crisis. Could he have made more substitutions to ease the pressure on some of his overworked players? Has his insistence on a smaller squad hampered City?
The transfer question is one that pops up again on social media. City's ageing squad hasn't gone unnoticed by the fans and they are asking if the club could have been more proactive in the last two or three transfer windows to anticipate a situation where most of the squad are approaching or over 30.
If City were winning games, it wouldn't be a problem. But they are not. So it is. (They have won titles and trophies every year since Guardiola's first, so the transfer policy has hardly been a disaster).
It's worth saying that there is plenty of support for Guardiola. And while there are questions over the manager and also of Txiki Begiristain there are also plenty of replies saying the reason for the downturn is nothing to do with injuries, confidence or Guardiola. Or that is is a combination of the factors instead rather than one specific thing.
Guardiola says he doesn't know what the answer is any more. The debate on the terraces sums up the lack of a clear route back to winning matches.
There is no obvious way back for City - it's up to the best manager they've ever had to take a step back and find one.