Of course, when we don't win the match, we can't talk about these things" - Pep Guardiola replied when asked about Manchester City's position in the Premier League title race after the draw with Brighton. "Unfortunately, we couldn't score, and scoring is always a core part of the job.
Stepping into 2026, things are still not smiling on Guardiola. Man City is still looking for their first victory in the new year, having dropped points in all 3 recent matches and not maintaining the lead nine times since the beginning of the season. After a promising start, their momentum in the championship race has clearly stalled.
If dropping 6 points really means that Man City is excluded from the race, then the Premier League situation will change significantly. Arsenal then almost no longer has a direct opponent strong enough to put pressure, opening up a great opportunity to rush towards the championship.
The question now is what are the core issues holding Man City back, and what is the focus that Guardiola and the coaching staff need to prioritize resolving before the season enters the decisive stage in January.
Defence shortcomings
This season, Guardiola once found a relatively stable formula in the defense when using the same quartet of defenders in 12/21 matches. In those 12 matches, Man City won 10, and the only defeat was a 1-2 defeat to Newcastle.
That foundation is built around the central defender duo Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias. This duo is physically strong, good at deploying the ball and creating balance. When supported by Nico O'Reilly and Matheus Nunes, City has a combination that is both energetic, flexible enough for pressing, and disciplined enough to control space.
But the injury seriously weakened the entire system. When the pillars were gone, Guardiola was forced to patch them up. Calling Max Alleyne back after a loan spell at Watford was a reasonable decision, and he responded with an impressive Premier League debut against Brighton. Abdukodir Khusanov also left a similar mark.
Guardiola publicly expressed satisfaction with the new combination: "They played excellently. Khusanov is amazing, he helps us with long passes across the line. He can cover the full wing, very quickly".
However, this is still a temporary solution rather than a structure that can be maintained in the long run. When Dias is expected to be absent at least until March, Gvardiol is likely to be out for the rest of the season, John Stones continues to be sidelined, and Nathan Ake cannot be overloaded for more than one match/week, The Citizens are clearly in an alarming state of central defender shortage.
And in the final sprint, this is a decisive issue. Titles are often determined by defensive stability - not only in the quality of each individual, but in the ability to maintain the squad for many consecutive weeks.
In that context, the reasonable question is no longer whether to add or not, but when and how. If the market allows, accelerating the plan to recruit a center-back instead of waiting until summer could become a strategic option to reduce risks for the rest of the season.
Missing big opportunities
Are top Premier League strikers having problems in scoring goals? In fact, yes. Man City has been playing without vitality since the beginning of the year, a direct consequence of the tight schedule and the inability to rotate the squad due to injury storms. In the last 3 matches, they have only scored 2 goals despite owning a total of xG 5.61, and one of them came from penalties.
Against Brighton, Man City created four clear chances but missed three. Haaland alone launched 8 shots, 50% on target, but still could not score from a live ball situation.
The highlight lies in an alarming statistic. Haaland has not scored from a live ball since the 3-0 victory over West Ham on December 20. At the system level, the problem is not just whether Haaland scores or not, but how Man City distributes the scoring burden to reduce dependence on the superior performance of an individual.
Creating a diverse scoring source - from penetrating midfielders, winger cuts in, to second ball situations - is a factor that needs to be clearly improved if City wants to regain the pace of victory.
