Rodri's serious injury and having to miss the rest of the season is a major reason for Man City's decline in form in recent times. The 2024 Ballon d'Or is the key to blocking the defense and also the boost for the attack. Without this important rebound, Man City could not defend, could not finish the attack and were still falling behind in terms of achievements.
However, a giant team like Man City cannot collapse just because of a midfielder injury. People are starting to look at Pep Guardiola, the great architect of The Citizens, and wonder: "Is this genius outdated? ".
In an interview with TNT Sports at the end of last year, Pep admitted that Bournemouth, Newcastle, Brighton, Liverpool are the only modern teams, somewhat different from Man City. The Spanish strategist also said that modern football should not be too inclined to assign specific positions to each player, this is the most outstanding point in building Pep's playing style.
Therefore, as they are gradually detaching from the trend, Man City is no longer too strong in the Premier League. They have lost 15/30 of their most recent matches in all competitions and have struggled a lot in every match, whether winning or drawing.
After Man City's loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League play-off round, BBC Sport has a notable analysis of Pep Guardiola's team. According to the BBC, injuries, aging players, star struggles or lack of confidence are just symptoms, not the cause. Man City's playing style is always completely different from the rest of the Premier League and the main reason lies in this.
"In each game, the way we get into the rhythm will decide everything. Now, it's simply that the club don't have enough players to do that. In the coming time, Man City needs to have a thicker squad. Before, I still thought I could operate well with a small number of players, but with the current situation, it's not good at all" - Pep shared with TNT Sports.
Last year, Pep gave the view that he only wanted to manage a team with about 18-20 players and the reality is proving that it seems untrue. Although Pep also recognized the reality, the Spanish coach did not necessarily want to change. For now, the Man City captain still wants to wait for all key players to return from injury. At that time, Pep was sure that everything would return to the right track.
This raises the question of whether Pep is conservative or not? This is a concept that has never appeared for this great strategist. There will be many controversies but the most accurate measure is still on-field performance. Once it is still plummeting, everything Pep says becomes meaningless. He is known as a modern coach, very diligent in changing, but as his age grew, who knows when the conservatism will come?
"I always wonder, if the team only had a few injuries and each injury was only out for about 3-4 weeks, what would have happened? However, looking at Man City at the moment, we have a few central defenders who will be out for 8-10 weeks. In addition, we will not have Rodri's service for the next 6-7 months while Oscar Bob will be out for 5-6 months.
I always wonder how strongly the team will compete if they have enough squads. Man City will be able to play the way we want" - Pep shared.
Therefore, in the current context, Pep often let Man City approach more slowly in matches. They accept that they are no longer in the top position, sometimes playing defensively to wait for counter-attacks. Pep wants to be patient with his playing style until everything returns to the old beat. Otherwise, he will have to change the way he gave up Tiki-Taka in the past to be able to go a successful journey with Man City.
