Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, currently resembles Romulus Augustulus, the Roman Emperor who perished in 476 A.D. He is aware that his masterpiece is collapsing, but he has no control over it.
Manchester City lost to fierce rivals Manchester United 2-1 last weekend after giving up two late goals in the Manchester derby, or rivalry match. Inside their home at Etihad Stadium, City supporters sat in almost silence. No one was upset. Under Guardiola, they have seen brilliance for over ten years, but this stillness was depressing. Nobody at all anticipated this record of only one victory in the previous ten games across all competitions.
Manchester City has won eight of the previous 13 English Premier League championships and six of the previous seven. It is a dynasty.
It became the only team in English soccer history to win four consecutive top flight titles a few months ago. The previous season, it became only the second team in English history to win the treble (the Premier League, European Champions League, and FA Cup championships). In the past, everything was going smoothly. What might go wrong?
After a few months, City is in ruins. terribly. In its last seven Premier League games, it has suffered five defeats. Over the previous three seasons combined, it only lost 11 Premier League games.
Guardiola’s amazing reign as City’s roving, all-conquering emperor in the world’s most competitive league seems to be coming to an end.
Can Manchester City snap out of this?
Normally, we would say “yes.” After a sluggish start to a season, City typically improves in the second half and ramps up to win trophies because of the caliber of its players, the depth of its squad, and the management.
This feels different, though. The signals aren’t good right now.
Bernardo Silva, the playmaker for City, chastised his colleagues for their late-game decisions during last weekend’s dramatic defeat against Manchester United.
“You can say it’s lucky or unlucky if it’s a game or two at this level, but if it’s ten games, it’s not about that,” Silva stated. There are a lot of games these days. We must examine ourselves. It is the choices you make. We played like under-15s in the final minutes today, and it cost us.
And that’s the main issue here. In order to have a numerical edge in the final third, Guardiola’s whole football philosophy depends on taking chances while in possession, holding the ball, and making wise choices. However, what occurs if you fail to do so and lose the ball?
To fill in the gaps, cover cracks, win the ball back, and be the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card, City always had Rodri, a defensive midfielder who was simply rated the best player on the planet.
However, Rodri suffered a season-ending knee injury against Arsenal in September. That’s when it all began. Rodri’s significance to City was obvious, but no one anticipated the extent of his injury given that he has essentially been there since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2019.
Over the past few months, City has made every effort to replace Rodri, but Guardiola, who is often a genius at coming up with original answers to issues, has ran out of options.
To fill the Rodri void, City’s only chance is to buy a defensive midfielder with extraordinary quality during the January transfer window. However, that would essentially just cover up the flaws in an old, injury-plagued team with numerous stars hobbling up the hill at the same time.
Has a quick collapse like this happened before?
This has previously occurred in European soccer.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s storied Manchester United team deteriorated rapidly and fell into disarray; since his departure in 2013, United has failed to win a league championship. Barcelona s dream team was kept around too long and was left to crumble together as Lionel Messi kept waving his wand to make it seem like an illusion, until it fell apart. Chelsea s star core eroded quickly in 2011 aside from its sensational last hurrah in winning the Champions League in 2012. Real Madrid s famed Galacticos wilted in 2008 just as Barcelona s young stars emerged.
The fact that there isn’t a definite contender to unseat City as the best team in English soccer is their only hope. Still.
Liverpool is early in its new project under new manager Arne Slot. Arsenal appears to have taken a step back this season. Chelsea s talented young squad is a few years from realizing its potential. Manchester United is in a massive rebuild, again.
Amid all of its struggles this season, City is still within touching distance of the title, and a win this weekend against Aston Villa and a loss for Liverpool at Tottenham would put it just six points off the top.
But from defending better to finding a Rodri replacement to keeping star players fit, it has to knit it all back together at the same time. Right now. There can be no more “under 15s” decision-making. This topsy-turvy Premier League season has given City a chance to salvage its season.
Over the festive period, City can put itself back in the title race with a favorable schedule before it faces Chelsea and Arsenal in early 2025. If it can navigate the next month without a hiccup, and it still can, there s a chance City can get itself back in the title hunt. A small chance.
What if Guardiola leaves and chaos ensues?
There is, of course, the possibility that Guardiola, who only just signed a new contract that runs until the summer of 2027, could walk away this season.
He isn t under pressure from the Abu Dhabi-based owners. Guardiola was the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle when he arrived in 2016. He turned City s expensively assembled machine into a winning juggernaut while playing soccer in its most beautiful form. Even if City finishes outside the Premier League s top six this season, it will back Guardiola to rebuild the team and go again. If that is what he wants.
But there is a lot going on at City right now.
It has been charged with 115 breaches of Premier League rules, and that hearing has been going on over the last few months, all while City has been crumbling on the pitch. It s expected that a verdict will arrive soon.
Guardiola has said multiple times he will stay if City is handed a hefty punishment or even relegated from the Premier League to the lower leagues of English soccer.
But nobody ever factored in that City would be struggling to win a game and look such a mess and that Guardiola might not be good enough for the job. Not our words. His.
I m not good enough, Guardiola said after the defeat against Manchester United. I am the boss, the manager, I have to find solutions, and so far I haven t.
So far is the key phrase there, though. It suggests Guardiola, one of the greatest and most successful managers in the history of the game, still believes he can turn this around.
But if this keeps on getting worse, Guardiola may decide to leave before his reputation is tarnished.
City will then be in chaos, with no clear successor lined up and a squad of very talented players all recruited to play in a very specific Guardiola way. Plus, it could be looking for a new manager and rebuilding an aging squad all while uncertainty continues about its future because of those alleged breaches of Premier League rules.
Amid this horrendous run of form for one of the greatest teams soccer has ever seen, there is a very real fear among Manchester City fans that things are about to get a lot worse. When a team starts to crumble like this, it happens very suddenly, and there isn t a quick fix.
City s fan base has a notoriously downbeat outlook on the team, and that remains despite all the winning in recent years. But if Guardiola leaves and City s season descends into chaos on and off the pitch, the gallows humor its fans are famous for will intensify. And it might not mask the pain of what is about to come.
The next few weeks are crucial on and off the pitch in determining how Guardiola s reign will come to an end. Whatever happens this season, he and City can say quite confidently veni, vidi, vici when all is said and done.
For now, one of soccer s great dynasties is limping on.
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