The truly great teams always exude their own spirit. One of the factors that makes them unlikely to be beaten is because beating them seems unimaginable.
Even if they fall into a series of bad matches, everyone still believes that sooner or later they will regain their form. To some extent, Manchester City did this last season.
Despite a somewhat gloomy season, after a defeat to Nottingham Forest in March, they have gone 10 games unbeaten and finished third in the Premier League. Of course, the defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final exposed the Citizens' remaining weaknesses.
That match showed Man City's sharpness in attack, but also showed unusually loose defense, which appeared in the 3-4 loss to Al-Hilal at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
Pep Guardiola's teams with high defensive lines always have the potential risk of direct counter-attacks. This is an inevitable part of the adventure game he pursues.
Even in the 4-0 win over Wolves in the Premier League opener, signs of instability have emerged. The mistake was clearly revealed when Richarlison broke the offside trap to assist Brennan Johnson to open the scoring for Tottenham at the Etihad.
Man City's second goal was even more worrying when goalkeeper James Trafford passed the ball risky to Nico Gonzalez right in his penalty area. It was not only a technical mistake but also a thinking mistake.
It is worrying that Trafford made a similar mistake at Burnley last season, leading to Josh Brownhill's red card against Crystal Palace.
Ederson was once the perfect goalkeeper for Guardiola - both solid in goal and a masterful pass. Guardiola's success at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City are all associated with classy goalkeepers such as Victor Valdes, Manuel Neuer and Ederson.
But last season, Ederson showed signs of decline, made mistakes in the Champions League and was substituted by Stefan Ortega in a number of important matches. With a high salary and attention from Saudi Arabia, his departure is no longer a surprise.
In terms of statistics, Ederson's passing ability is still superior. That is an average of 5.3 long passes/match with an accuracy rate of more than 86%. Compared to Trafford, the young goalkeeper's pass completion rate is only 70% in the Championship and 62% in the Premier League.
Man City are said to have reached a personal deal with Gianluigi Donnarumma - who was unexpectedly left out of PSG's plans. Although Donnarumma is an excellent goalkeeper and often plays explosively in big matches, he is not capable of passing long like Ederson.
In Ligue 1 last season, Donnarumma achieved a successful pass rate of 85% but only an average of 2.6 long passes per match. This raises the question, is Guardiola looking to change his philosophy, return to a shorter, safer playing style, instead of being direct and risky as he has been recently?
In fact, a highlight against Wolves was the pace of the Man City midfield's development, with Tijjani Reijnders as the most outstanding player. But against Tottenham, he was completely blocked, the pass accuracy rate dropped from 88.3% to 81.4%.
Man City have only won 1 of their last 5 home matches against Spurs, so the recent defeat is not too surprising. But this result also shows that if they really want to come back, Guardiola and Man City need more than a win against Wolves. In general, Guardiola's reconstruction work is still unfinished.
