In the space of one week Manchester City have gone from being touted as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever teams to having each and every one of their weaknesses exploited ruthlessly in successive games.
Ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Liverpool, Manchester City were sitting pretty. Leading their domestic league at a canter with a group of players who appeared happy and in-form, few were willing to bet against them reaching the last four of the competition.
What followed was a masterclass of Jurgen Klopp football. Counter-attacking at break-neck pace and exploiting the lack of pace and composure in the City defence, the German’s side essentially ended the tie before the first half even came to a close.
Three days later and Pep Guardiola’s side had a chance to put the game behind them and do the unthinkable: seal the league title earlier than any side in history against their bitter rivals.
While not a crucial game in the context of their league season, it was an opportunity to make a statement of intent, to put down a marker that this was the moment that the balance of power in Manchester had truly shifted, possibly for decades to come.
His team started in a similar manner to how Liverpool had played the previous Wednesday. City came out of the blocks simply too quick for their opponents, and could well have been four goals up when they entered the dressing room with a two goal lead at half-time.
Come the second half however and once again Manchester City were shown to be human, far from the unstoppable force they had appeared to be for much of this campaign.
The coolness and precision usually associated with the team and with Guardiola side’s in general had disappeared, replaced with a level of desperation and anxiety so high one would have been forgiven for thinking that this was a winner-takes-all title decider.
This desperation was exacerbated by Guardiola’s introductions of Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero – players who should have been saved for their next game days later, but were instead utilised in a bid to avoid a second consecutive defeat.
Come Tuesday evening and City once again began at pace, scoring two minutes into the game which a goal which unnerved Liverpool and had fans dreaming of a comeback.
City hassled and harried their guests, just as they had done with Manchester United, but unlike that game things just wouldn’t fall into place here. It was not a case of missed opportunities (though an unfairly disallowed goal may well have changed the outcome) but rather a case of the cards not falling as City would have wished.
In that regard, there has been a common thread which has permeated all three of City’s matches this week: a complete and utter breakdown of Guardiola’s set up and his team’s shape.
https://twitter.com/grahamruthven/status/983820712258437122
Usually a well-oiled machine which steamrolls across all comers, Manchester United and Liverpool have shown what can be done when the opposition has the quality to attack City effectively, and what can happen to City mentally when things don’t go their way.
Many teams have big decisions go against them, and Manchester City have had their fair share this week, but it is how sides react to those decisions that really define them.
Rather than stay patient and retain belief that their quality will see them through as it has done all season, this week City have become fragile and nervous, rarely more than one decision away from crying foul, resulting in their hitherto fine tuned game devolving into a reliance on moments of quality which simply haven’t materialised.
Does this mean they are a bad team? Absolutely not. But it does raise question marks about their ability to compete effectively when decisions go against them in high pressure situations.
The best teams have always been most dangerous when emerging from a painful defeat – the Alex Ferguson-era Manchester United sides being the greatest example of this – but this week City have appeared frail and traumatised; haunted by a run of results which would have seemed impossible just months ago.
It is something which their manager has openly discussed this, admitting earlier this week that he was worried their derby collapse would haunt them during their return leg with Liverpool.
“I thought many times about that,” Guardiola said when asked how his side could banish the memories of the defeat. “I’ve dropped a lot of Champions League games in the space of 10 or 15 minutes.”
The fact that this fear has been realised should not only worry Guardiola, but give hope to Manchester City’s Premier League rivals.
This team is not invincible, they can be got at, they can be rattled mentally and they can be bossed physically. They can be beaten and this week has proved it.
