Manchester City looked good in the Club World Cup until it all fell apart in the last-16 game with Al Hilal.
Erling Haaland is safe at Manchester City but there are plenty who are not
Erling Haaland is safe at Manchester City but there are plenty who are not
It's not clear how many steps Manchester City took forward at the Club World Cup but their shock defeat to Al Hilal was definitely one back. Their 5-2 thumping of Juventus had pushed up their credentials as potential winners and then it all fell apart quickly and spectacularly.
A team that had conceded two goals in three games conceded as many in six minutes and went on to ship four in a defensive display that will have sent alarm bells around the City camp. For all the talk of change, here were the same old problems.
It felt like a Champions League defeat in the sense of everything blowing up unexpectedly in Blue faces yet it was also a concerning continuation of the problems that City encountered too many times last season as they struggled week after week in the Premier League.
History may judge it more kindly but right now the Club World Cup looks like a failure for Pep Guardiola and his players. They had the chance to show that they can still win major competitions - something they have been fiercely insisting for months - and they came up well short, losing to a team from the Saudi Pro League.
Because of that, there can be no complaints about what comes next. City have to trim their squad in order to give Guardiola a more manageable group to work with and ensure nobody is left unregistered for certain competitions, and that puts plenty of necks on the chopping block.
A decision has already been made to keep Bernardo Silva, installing him as the new captain following the departure of Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker's expected departure. Many others are jockeying to stay as well, with Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, John Stones and Oscar Bobb among those who have pledged their future to City at a time of uncertainty.
That commitment will have gone down well with Guardiola, although at the same time some unpopular decisions are going to have to be made to get the squad to where it needs to be.
That is why the Club World Cup looks like such a missed opportunity for all players to show what value they bring to the side. There were plenty of good individual performances in the tournament, only for City to look just as vulnerable as they have for the last year when it mattered and suffer an embarrassing defeat.
Nobody did enough to push the needle that they should definitely stay, which will ultimately make it easier for City bosses to make their decisions when they come to move some players on.
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