Yes, it’s early in the season but Manchester City proved in their 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday that familiar issues will stop them from being genuine Premier League title contenders this season.
Unless they can solve these reoccurring issues.
MORE — Reaction from Pep Guardiola | Reaction from Thomas Frank
Struggling to defend counter attacks. Caught out playing from the back. A lack of pace and intensity. Predictability on the ball. Those were the main themes which riddled City’s third-place finish in the Premier League last season and it came to the fore in their loss to Spurs.
MORE — Watch Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur full replay
Pep Guardiola didn’t look particularly surprised by what he saw and despite a huge influx of new players, the same problems remain for Manchester City.
Defending counter attacks the Achilles heel, again
It has been this way for many years and City looked so vulnerable on the counter attack. John Stones and Ruben Dias are fine defenders but Stones slipping during the attack which led to Spurs’ opener summed up how uncomfortable City felt. Spurs could easily spin their defense and the gaps at the back were huge for City. Without a fully-fit Rodri to plug the gaps when they lose the ball, City continue to look incredibly shaky when defending on the counter. That has to change if they’re going to close the gap to Arsenal and Liverpool this season as so many Premier League teams play on the counter the way Spurs did on Saturday.
Goalkeeper situation needs to be sorted fast
It was a rough outing for young goalkeeper James Trafford. After excelling at Burnley in the Championship last season, Trafford has returned to his boyhood club and is straight in as Ederson’s future remains unclear. This situation has to be sorted quickly. Trafford looked nervous playing out from the back and being a sweeper ‘keeper and if Ederson is going to leave, City must act fast. Reports suggest Gianluigi Donnarumma will sign for City but is he the kind of goalkeeper that can play the Guardiola way? The jury is out on that. Usually City have their transfers lined up well in advance but they’ve been caught out with their goalkeeping situation.
New players understandably taking time to gel
In City’s starting lineup there were six players signed in 2025 and Oscar Bobb, who played very little over the last 12 months due to injury. With the likes of Rodri, Phil Foden, Nathan Ake, Jeremy Doku and Bernardo Silva on the bench, plus Ilkay Gundogan and Manuel Akanji not even in the squad as they may leave, there is a very new feel to this City squad. And it’s showing. Guardiola put this defeat down to an off day on the ball and giving it away too easily. It will take time for these new players to grasp exactly what he wants and usually he gently introduces new players over many months. This season he has chucked them all in at the same time and Opta’s stats revealed that this was City’s youngest starting XI for a league match since 2010, so their youngest-ever under Pep. Over time they will improve and gel as a unit but it looks like there will be plenty of growing pains in the interim and perhaps Guardiola should sprinkle in a few more of his trusted players with the newbies.
Spurs win comfortably against 'very poor' Man City
Rebecca Lowe, Tim Howard, and Robbie Mustoe react to Spurs cruising to a 2-0 victory against Manchester City at the Etihad in Matchweek 2.