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The fall of Manchester City -what's gone wrong?

L

Lotte

Ban Spoonguard
Just that, really. Let's look at their results (losses in bold):
August:
- Chelsea 0-2 Man City
- Man City 4-1 Ipswich
- West Ham 1-3 Man City
September:
- Man City 2-1 Brentford
- Man City 0-0 Inter Milan
- Man City 2-2 Arsenal
- Man City 2-1 Watford
- Newcastle 1-1 Man City
October:
- Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Man City
- Man City 3-2 Fulham
- Man City 5-0 Sparta Prague
- Man City 1-0 Southampton (this is when the rot started to kick in)
- Tottenham 2-1 Man City
November:
- Bournemouth 2-1 Man City
- Sporting CP 4-1 Man City
- Brighton 2-1 Man City
- Man City 0-4 Tottenham
- Man City 3-3 Feyenoord (note: City were 3-0 up and bottled a 3-0 lead)
December:
- Liverpool 2-0 Man City
- Man City 3-0 Forest
- Crystal Palace 2-2 Man City
- Juventus 2-0 Man City

They've really dropped off recently and I know all teams have blips, Wednesday certainly have, but with City this is abnormal. Haaland's going through a dry run. Factors I've seen suggested are:
- They know they're going to get relegated over the 115 charges and the team are panicking/their heads aren't in the game (this one comes up on the BBC HYS a lot).
- Pep's lost the dressing room.
- Rodri's ACL leaving a gigantic hole in the team.
- Walker is old and slow.
- Gundogan isn't as good as he used to be.
- Kevin de Bruyne is injured too frequently.
- Other teams have found them out and adapted to countering them.
- Grealish is played out of position and the young midfielders just aren't good enough.

Do we have any City fans on here?
 
I'm actually a United fan :D but not to the extent that I hate City - my main team is a National League club.

I would add 'weight of expectation' to your list. Man City are actually fourth in the premiership. Probably a blip, but a big one.

A few more theories in this article (tiredness, team need rebuilding).

www.bbc.co.uk

Champions League: 'Never seen a Guardiola team this bad' - Man City under 'real pressure'

With one win in 10 games in all competitions and facing a real battle to progress in the Champions League, Manchester City are described as "under real pressure"' to turn their form around.
www.bbc.co.uk

I don't know as much as I should about the possibility of relegation for irregularities but that's got to be potentially huge.
 
All empires fall I guess. Probably need a rebuild and Guardiola is 'nearer the end than the beginning' or something.

I only say 'need a rebuild' as a reckon because that's kind of what happened at Liverpool last season after key players dropped off in performance the season before last. Some got sold to the Saudi league, others were out of contract.
 
Not quite the right topic but interesting seeing just a bit of Weah against City. His dad though was majestic when he was playing, never seen anyone run with the ball like him, before he became presidential.

A bit like the power of Haaland but graceful with it.

Eta: the first goal here :eek:



and the second and the rest of them :eek:
 
Last edited:
editor said:
The long overdue punishment for their multiple rule breaking in the Premier League could see then fall a whole lot further soon too.
Click to expand...
Has there been any confirmation that they'll be relegated or is this just speculation? I don't want them in the Championship tbh, there's enough of a gulf there as is.
 
Lotte said:
Has there been any confirmation that they'll be relegated or is this just speculation? I don't want them in the Championship tbh, there's enough of a gulf there as is.
Click to expand...

No, no-one knows how that's going to turn out at the moment.

Regarding the OP, I guess if your style is as intricate and detailed as City's is, if a few key cogs are missing or out of form/aging it's not surprising if the team falls away. I don't believe they've been 'found out' or any of that stuff tbh, their team of a couple of years ago would still be smashing everyone.
 
Lets leave the speculation about what the EPL case brings or doesn't bring. There are lots of rumours and little evidence of strong leaks and unless its suggested that City's bad run started because the players were told something, but haven't bothered leaking it to the press, its irrelevant.

I've got quite a few City mates and their overall view is . Too many games, too many injuries and fatigue. The squad hasn't been big enough or deep enough for some time and they have been slow in the transfer market. The youngsters understandably whilst having playing time haven't been able to progress as quickly as hoped , and there are several key players who are underperforming.

I also think that there is a group of teams in the top half who are really competitive this season , far more than in previous years and far more consistent than in other years. Bournemouth, Brighton, Forest and Fulham have been at times very difficult opponents in addition to clubs Spurs, Villa and Chelsea who you'd expect to be in the top 6/7.
 
I don't think anyone was expecting Brighton or Forest to do as well as they have, not that that's a bad thing - the PL is better when it's competitive. (And Silva gets a lot of criticism from the press, so I'm glad he's doing alright with Fulham despite the giant Mitrovic-shaped hole.) Brighton are an example of how a club should be run.
 
It's just Rodri isn't it? Wasn't there some stat from where he was injured before (shorter term I think) where they lost more in a handful of games than they had in the dozens when he'd played?
 
planetgeli said:
It's just Rodri isn't it? Wasn't there some stat from where he was injured before (shorter term I think) where they lost more in a handful of games than they had in the dozens when he'd played?
Click to expand...
Yeah, wasn't it the season when Liverpool won the league?

Teams shouldn't be so dependent on one player. He gets injured, you're screwed,
 
City fan here. Feeling kinda nostalgic about the 80s!
My take is:
Pep is mentally exhausted and should probably have quit when Klopp did.
His insistence on a small squad is starting to bite.
Transfer dealings have been poor this past four seasons.
Rodri and the failure to get some cover after the Kalvin Phillips experiment went wrong.
Walker and Foden lost their form. And Ederson.
Kev, Ake and Stones are always injured.

And selling enough good youth players who would make a decent Prem team.
Off the top of my head
Muric, Porro, Tosin, Harwood-Bellis, Lavia, Rodgers, Palmer, Sancho. I'm sure I could find another three.

But as someone said above, all empires tumble at some point.
 
twistedAM said:
And selling enough good youth players who would make a decent Prem team.
Off the top of my head
Muric, Porro, Tosin, Harwood-Bellis, Lavia, Rodgers, Palmer, Sancho. I'm sure I could find another three.
Click to expand...
Us at Ipswich can't thank you enough for Liam Delap
 
souljacker said:
Us at Ipswich can't thank you enough for Liam Delap
Click to expand...
That's ok, you did us a turn paying some of Kalvin's wages ;)
Delap was a weird one. He was unstoppable in the youth team and looked like he might be a fixture in the senior squad but then went out on loan to Stoke and Preston and bombed but seemed to do okay with Hull but still didn;t score many goals. Seems to be coming good now though. Hope you stay up btw.
 
two sheds said:
Not quite the right topic but interesting seeing just a bit of Weah against City. His dad though was majestic when he was playing, never seen anyone run with the ball like him, before he became presidential.

A bit like the power of Haaland but graceful with it.

Eta: the first goal here :eek:



and the second and the rest of them :eek:
Click to expand...

On an even greater tangent, City now have two ex-players to be elected president of their country (Liberia and Georgia).
Weird world.
 
twistedAM said:
That's ok, you did us a turn paying some of Kalvin's wages ;)
Delap was a weird one. He was unstoppable in the youth team and looked like he might be a fixture in the senior squad but then went out on loan to Stoke and Preston and bombed but seemed to do okay with Hull but still didn;t score many goals. Seems to be coming good now though. Hope you stay up btw.
Click to expand...
I think Delap has a great deal of promise if he is coached correctly
 
twistedAM said:
City fan here. Feeling kinda nostalgic about the 80s!
My take is:
Pep is mentally exhausted and should probably have quit when Klopp did.
His insistence on a small squad is starting to bite.
Transfer dealings have been poor this past four seasons.
Rodri and the failure to get some cover after the Kalvin Phillips experiment went wrong.
Walker and Foden lost their form. And Ederson.
Kev, Ake and Stones are always injured.

And selling enough good youth players who would make a decent Prem team.
Off the top of my head
Muric, Porro, Tosin, Harwood-Bellis, Lavia, Rodgers, Palmer, Sancho. I'm sure I could find another three.

But as someone said above, all empires tumble at some point.
Click to expand...


We , Chelsea, have done very well with ex City academy players four of them mentioned above and the coach of course. . However our owners' , and via the academy , only the previous owner 's , model are based on investing in young players with potential for the first team or to be sold at a profit. With the sustainability rules and the business models that have been set up to ensure clubs stay within them ( or ways to exploit them) the selling of youth players is unfortunately key.
 
Everton are going to beat them at this rate. And I mean the men, the women already did it earlier today. Dycheball knows no gender.
 
When you factor in the injuries, the fatigue and the rest, it still doesn't get close to explaining this run. I don't particularly like Pep, but he's very good at keeping teams at the very top of their game. You'd think those same skills would be useful at getting them back on track.

Heard a couple of interviews though maybe they are not a great indication of where his mind is at. Same time, he just sounds, dunno, adrift.
 
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