Man City just let Brighton hold them to a 2-2 draw at home despite having led twice. This result prevented them from squeezing into the Top 4 (ranked 5). Worse, if Newcastle win the make-up match, Pep Guardiola's team could fall to 6th place.
For now, whether they win the FA Cup or not is not an important matter for Man City. They have to pay all costs to get a ticket to the Champions League next season.
In the 2024-2025 campaign, the Champions League may have 5 tickets for the Premier League, but at this point it is not 100%. Therefore, Pep Guardiola and his team must try to enter the top 4 teams if they do not want disaster to happen.
A very big transfer season at the beginning of the year is not enough for Man City to revive their form. £ 140 million for 4 new players but still cannot improve the existing gaps.
Even though we know that stars like Omar Marmoush are for the future. However, that future must be good (to play in the Champions League) to be attractive enough for them to strive.
Seeing Khusanov's clumsy return to the net in the draw with Brighton, it is clear that giving absolute confidence to young recruits is too risky for Pep Guardiola.
Up front, Nico Gonzalez showed that he could not fill the position left by Rodri. Although the Spanish midfielder almost scored after a header against the post.
However, looking at the overall performance, this midfielder appeared to be completely inferior to the muscle strength and speed of Brighton's midfield.
For the first time in his top-flight coaching career, Pep Guardiola's side have conceded 40 goals in a domestic league. The more worrying thing for now is that the tournament has 9 more rounds. The number of goals conceded may increase as the finishing stage becomes increasingly fierce.
Injuries and the decline in form of many key players have left Pep Guardiola with no way out. Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish were all on the bench against Brighton.
When entering the field, these factors no longer cause breakthroughs. They once caused fear in every defense in Europe, but now they are just a shadow of themselves.
As for the attack, Jeremy Doku alone is not enough to burn to the brink. Savinho is still playing very poorly when he is about to start. As for Erling Haaland, he has scored 21 goals in the Premier League this season, a good achievement but compared to what the striker has done in the past 2 seasons, everything is too bad.
Man City has reached a glorious peak that no team has ever achieved in the past when winning the Premier League 4 times in a row. The downturn will come but no one thought it would come so quickly and leave such a big impact on Pep Guardiola and his team.
If Man City lose to Bournemouth in the next round of the FA Cup, it is not uncommon because they need to survive until the final match in the hope of securing a Premier League ticket in hand.
