Ahead of Man City's away match at the Parc des Princes, Erling Haaland shared that he is seeing positive energy inside every member of the club. The Norwegian striker said that The Citizens have been training very well and have overcome the recent severe crisis.
However, as the final whistle blew at the Parc des Princes, City's problems were clear. They look certain to qualify for the knockout stages if they beat Club Brugge next week at the Etihad. But do fans still have absolute faith in Pep Guardiola's team at this point?
Before the match, French TV station Canal+ edited a very impressive trailer about the situation of both sides. They compared the two teams to emergency patients with very weak pulses. That's right, before the match took place, PSG was in the elimination group and Man City was only 1 point ahead of this group.
After the naval battle, PSG's pulse gradually returned to normal while Man City seemed to be getting more and more chaotic.
The defeat to PSG was the ninth time this season that Man City have failed to win when leading. If we only count the UEFA Champions League, the reigning Premier League champions have failed to win three of their last four games despite always opening the scoring. If this statistic had appeared at the end of last season, it would have been shocking, but now everything is becoming familiar.
This season, Pep has also become accustomed to admitting that City’s defeat was deserved in post-match press conferences. When looking at PSG’s destruction of his team, Pep simply said that the stronger team won. The Spanish coach did not analyze much because the truth was exposed, everyone saw and could judge for themselves.
Pep said PSG were faster, stronger and won almost every one of their duels. These are the problems Man City have had during their recent slump. Rodri's absence has had a negative impact, it has been said over and over again but Man City still can't seem to accept this fact.
Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Omar Marmoush are set to be introduced in the coming days. However, whether these three new recruits can patch up the gaps that The Citizens have is yet to be confirmed. Even a veteran with a lot of experience playing at the top level like Mateo Kovacic cannot handle it, can these rising stars meet Pep's requirements?
After solving the Rodri problem, how will the positions of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan be calculated when all are getting old and gradually entering the final stage of their careers? Pep is famous for calculating every little detail but this time, everything seems too hasty.
"The connection between Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva seemed impossible, we didn't do well with this experiment" - Pep admitted the mistake in letting Kovacic and Bernardo play together in the central midfield area.
Jack Grealish has scored again after a long period of silence. While the English striker is showing signs of returning, those who were considered stable and on the rise in recent times, such as Savinho, have disappeared at the Parc des Princes. Man City is stuck when the old player is losing form, the new player has not been in form for long and has also plummeted. The victories against weak teams such as Leicester, West Ham or Ipswich Town have not helped The Citizens return. It is just like a thin curtain covering a very bad situation.
"We have one last chance against Club Brugge next week. If we can't win this time, Man City doesn't deserve anything anymore" - Pep Guardiola shared.
The Etihad side could win next week and reach the Champions League play-offs, but even if they do, the current crisis will not be resolved in a week.
