Manchester City players have to find their form before the end of the season to convince they can keep working with Pep Guardiola
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NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 08: Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest is challenged by Phil Foden of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest FC and Manchester City FC at the City Ground on March 08, 2025 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Manchester City struggles continued at Nottingham Forest
Manchester City are still waiting to break free of the slump that has engulfed them. There have been positives in recent weeks with victories over Newcastle and Tottenham as well as progress in the FA Cup, yet defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend highlighted how brittle the Blues still are.
A long week without a game while the Champions League last-16 went on was not long enough to sort the problems that still plague Pep Guardiola's side, from the struggle to create chances in attack to the individual errors that clumped together for the Forest winner.
After the game, both the manager and defender Ruben Dias hinted at mentality issues within the squad as they have struggled to come to terms with the worst season of most of their professional careers. It is understandable, yet it does not help the team in the short-term.
Anyone looking at the situation may struggle to work out where the responsibility for that lies: it is the manager's job to get the best out of his team, but at the same time the players are also paid well to perform to higher levels than they currently are.
Guardiola has said a number of times this season that he is not good enough in that respect, having been unable to find solutions to the problems that have arisen. He is smart enough to realise that the longer the poor results go on the worse it looks for him.
Yet the club have already put their faith in him again, talking of their excitement when he agreed a new deal back in November to extend his City deal until 2027. A few months later, nearly £180m of talent was spent on four players who fit into Guardiola's mould of football from the two young centre-backs to forward Omar Marmoush.
Where normally in such a bad run of results the axe would swing on the manager, City have put their faith and their money in Guardiola to take them forward.
That leaves the players with very little room as they look to find their own form. While some supporters may think Guardiola needs to be better, the fact that he isn't going anywhere means the club expects more from the players if they want to stay into next season.
The size of the change in personnel has been downplayed by the manager in recent weeks, yet at the same time he has spoken of how change is normal when talking about the boost that the new signings have given everyone.
Guardiola will continue working to get more out of his team, but if the players want to do the same they cannot afford to leave it up to the coaching staff to make everything better.