Sideline Story

What’s behind City’s mid-season slump?

Manchester City’s winless run has extended to six games after they squandered a 3-0 lead in the Champions League draw against Fenerbahçe. What led to City’s mid-season crisis apart from an injury plague? Does it indicate that Pep Guardiola’s possession intensive style has faced challenges? In this episode, we also analyze if City can retain the Premier League title this season.

Duration:: 25m
Broadcast on:: 29 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to Sideline Story, your destination for sports news, analysis and discussions. Let me unwound. This week, we will take a look at Manchester City and its mid-season crisis. Does it mean City's title hopes are over? What's behind City's clump? For this discussion, I'm joined with my co-hosts, Can You and Brendan Yates. All right, Manchester City has suffered the mid-season world. Their Champions League match. They were leading three-nil against defended by Chip, but was held to a three-all draw in the end. And before that, they had lost five games in the row across different competitions. I guess the most devastating loss was the four-nil defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at home. - That was a disaster. - Yeah, that was hopeless. And I would even say, lifeless performance from the defending pre-traumatic champion. Of course, there's injury plague, Manchester City has been suffering and enduring. I mean, previously, Kevin De Bruyne was missing. And now, Kovecic, and the Roger is still injured, as well as Ruben Diaz. But some fans claim injury is not only source behind City's underperformance lately. And they have lost their total dominance on the pitch. So do you agree, Tian Yu, that injury is not the only problem of Manchester City now? - Well, first of all, of course, I would say injury has played a big part in their in City's bat spell this season. The long injury list is definitely a big reason why they have been suffering from the consecutive losses in recent few weeks. And among the injured players, I would say the absence of Roger deals the heaviest blow to the team. Without Roger, there was no pivot in the midfield. And what came with it is the loss of a reliable commander who control the temp of the game and initiated attacks for City. So no one can really replace the role of Roger. - Yeah, his defensive role. - Yeah, and of course, yeah, his defense. So without him, the midfield has often seemed to be at a loss during the games. And Roger is quite special for the team. And apart from the injury of Roger, I think a lack of firepower has been another factor that hindered their progress this season. They have been relying too much on Erling Holland to score goals, I would say. He had scored 17 goals this season for City. And the second scorer after him, their defender, Graf Dior, who only scored three goals. And that is a far cry, yeah, crazy. That is a far crime from last year. 'Cause last season Phil Foden and Alvarez contributed 30 goals for the team together, which accounted for one third of the total. So I think after you rode 2024, Foden has been suffering from poor forms and had kind of lost themselves. And also as Alvarez went to Atlético Madrid, the team is in an awkward position, which is in need of a second scorer to rely on when Holland didn't bring his shooting boots to the games sometimes. And just like the recent game against Hotspur, Holland wasted so many good opportunities in the beginning of the game, that could have given City an early lead in the game. So yeah, I would say a lack of firepower and maybe a messy midfield should be the culprit behind the City's recent slump. Yeah, I mean, they have lost Alcaros in the transfer market and no one is now stepping up from the bench to Phil Harland's void sometimes. Brendan, what do you think? Is in trade only issue for City now? - I mean, first of all, I'm smiling as a matches United fan. It's nice to see why RAV was both worth a bit of difficulty for a change because they've just been so dominant, not just in the Premier League, but they've been very consistent in Europe for a long time now, which as United fan is very difficult to watch. So this is a lovely Christmas gift before the festive season to see Manchester City struggling. But look, they are really struggling with injuries. There's definitely no question about that, Raudry, of course, I think the most high profile name that they've really been suffering without. But that being said, I mean, there's other issues that are clearly evident because against failure note going up 3-0, to blow a three goal lead, I never thought I would see a Pep Guardiola Manchester City team ever do that and it happened. And it happened very quickly and the way that it happened was quite concerning. I think one of the issues is that I think a lot of the players in the team right now are in and out of the team and are also lacking confidence. So you see very experienced players as well, like Kevin de Bruyne, Carl Walker being in and out of the team. So maybe they're lacking a bit of confidence. Ruben Diaz is in and out and I'm sure that also has to do with battling some niggles and that sort of thing. But besides that, when you still go 3-0 up, you expect the quality in the squad that they have to be able to see after a game. But some of the players that came in were seriously lacking confidence and did not perform well. And they also just seemed beyond playing well, there seems to be, among some city players, a lack of effort, which I also never thought that I would actually see. Because when Feynote had the ball and were kind of going forward and were obviously doing everything they could to score goals because when you're down 3-0, you kind of throw caution to the wind, the city line-up seemed to back off and give Feynote space and not really press them and didn't seem to try to get the ball back. So I think that was quite concerning for Manchester City and they also, with the changes that they made, they had to revert from a back four to a back three. And that seemed to really confuse the city players and they didn't seem to be able to deal with that system. So, I think Pep Guardiola also has to take some blame for some of the performances. Maybe the players that he brought on and the 11 that he had on the pitch at that time were not able to handle his tactical switch. But to blow a three-goal lead for a team of this experience and this quality is very straight. - Right. I mean, the lack of power is certainly an issue for city, but to me, the more severe issue might be on their defense line. I mean, city used to be, you know, play high pressing a lot, you know, defending in the opponent's half. But now when they sit back, it seems like they can't really coordinate with each other in terms of, you know, how should I hold my position? How should we communicate with each other? It seems like cities really messed up in their defense. I mean, four new defeat to Tottenham Hospital and four-one defeat to sport in Lisbon. It's amazing. But putting the injuries aside, I would say cities also experiencing a period of being more and more aging in terms of their players in the key positions. Look at their mid-futes. Kovachic, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ginoan, they all passed 30 years old and they are quite less struggling at, you know, ball interception in the mid-futes throughout 90 minutes. And in the back, Kyle Walker's plan is even more obvious this season. He has become the loophole of city's defense line and every team is now targeting his side in attacking tactics. So I think this aging problem is something Pep Guardiola needs to address very urgently because the PACT game, Shenzhou, would otherwise destroy city's defense ultimately and to destroy their consistency, which they were doing extremely well previously. And as you said, cities now rely more and more on Erlin Harland in scoring. The Norwegian striker scored 12 of city's 22 Premier League goals this season over half of the team total. Of course, Harland is a brilliant, brilliant striker, but when he has a quiet night, which happened a few times already this season, it seems like his teammates can't really step up in time. But lately, a Chinese commentator said, city's decline also reflects Pep Guardiola's problems. Guardiola's football philosophy is losing its power. The obsession of ball possession is making city slower in their pace and made them really fragile against the counter-attacks. So, Tianyu, would you say Pep Guardiola's football is now losing its magic? And the Tikitaka kind of style he's famous for is no longer working that well. Well, I don't think the trouble man cities facing will last perpetually because they have bumped into some serious trouble due to a series of factors, including injury, a change of key positions and players, but they still have the power to stage a comeback with a very solid squad and the recovery of forms to do some key players like Foden and Grilish. So, you say this is a temporary thing? Yeah, I would say so, because not to mention the fact that they still have Foden, that's probably not Foden. No, but last ever. Well, I mean, they still have the transfer window to make some adjustments to replenish their squads. And I don't think the problem cities facing can't just boil down to Guardiola's tactics. And I don't think that Tikitaka is dying in modern football because the playing style of many teams are kind of converging. And most of them are still focusing a lot on possession heavy style. But when a style was widely used among different teams, it also poses the risk of getting looked into and finding the cure to counter that style. And we have seen some examples of how some teams have gradually started to abandon this possession to have your style while making some innovations. A case in point would be the Leverkerson team led by Xavier Longso. And he kind of revolutionized the use of wing backs in a fans place. And his playing style has proved to be a huge success. And I would say another example would be the Spanish team in Euro 2024. They surprisingly gave up the traditional Tikitaka style in that tournament and chose to go back to the two wing power play. They also made a splash with their brand new strategy. So yeah, while Tikitaka is still a very popular style in modern football, I think it's also very good to see some innovative changes made by certain teams. And I believe these innovations can spur the growth of the whole football industry. - Yeah, of course, Pep Guardiola's football philosophy has obviously evolved around the time from Barcelona to Bayern Munich to Manchester City. It's not the same style. But he definitely revolutionized the some parts of his theory. And ethos made them all adapted to the team. He's in charge with. But Brendan, do you think Guardiola's football philosophy is now kind of outdated? - I think I wouldn't say it's outdated but I think that it's facing challenges greater than he's ever experienced before. And from really strong teams and from tactics that I don't think his team and himself as a manager have dealt with to this extent for quite a long time. So I think the possession heavy approach is now really being targeted by teams that are very quick in their transitions and are very direct in their attacking play. And when you have a team that is heavily reliant on possession like Manchester City and are missing several key players and have players coming in that don't necessarily adapt to the style very well or to tactical changes made by Pep Guardiola either before or during a game, it's really, really challenging. And I just think that at the moment, City are in a position where they don't have the best players to deal with Pep Guardiola's style. And they also don't seem to have players coming off the bench that have a massive impact, which is sometimes needed to either see a game out like when you're winning three nil or to try and turn things around. For example, when Erling Harlan isn't firing. So, at the moment, I wouldn't label his style as obsolete. I think that at the moment, City's issues seem to be more about execution in terms of what Pep Guardiola wants to achieve as well as player availability. So, you know, Guardiola's systems have previously adapted during challenging periods and this might still be the case. As players return from injury, we already seeing a couple of players come back. But like you also mentioned, young one, a lot of his stars, like Kevin De Bruyne, Karl Walker, and a couple of other names have been there for quite some time, but they are aging and they seem to struggle with the high intensity that other teams bring when City are struggling. So, look, I think when all of these injury problems are solved by Manchester City, I think they will eventually bounce back. And I think Pep Guardiola and his team will return to the drawing board and see what they can do to deal with this current patch of difficulty that they're dealing with. But I think going forward into the long term, I think a lot of positions need to be identified that where players need to be replaced or the squad needs to be strengthened in certain positions. And I think defensive midfield and upfront is definitely crucial because it seems like when Erling Harland isn't firing or when Rodry isn't available, City almost capitulates, which is very, very troubling because, you know, you can't just have such a strong team just relying on two players. But beyond that, I think that the squad as a whole also needs to realize that sometimes teams are able to deal with that high position game that City play with and City need to find a way to counter teams that, you know, practice them really high and are able to counter attack and attack very directly and very quickly. So I think that, yeah, City need to deal with their injuries, but they also need to find ways to adapt to teams that are able to deal with their high position game very effectively. And I think that's very concerning for Pip Guardiola in particular. - Yeah, his style is kind of, he's obsessed with ball possession, but his team is kind of getting slower. Then if we take a look at the most influential, most successful teams so far this season in Europe, Liverpool definitely focuses more on speed and transition. Remember, Liverpool is the biggest Chinese fan, John Jin, the commentator, once said, was joked actually. Liverpool's best scoring chances come from the opponent's set pieces because they are so good at playing transition. Obviously, the season onslaught has kept Jürgen Klopp's legacy and the philosophy in that aspect of the game. And Barcelona also plays more practically this season, more alarm passes, more street passes, more running on the two sides. So I guess fewer teams are now willing to play Tikitaka, that kind of style, which focuses more on ball possession than anything else. So Brendan, what kind of style do you think is leading the fashion in today's football world? - You know, it's interesting. I remember there's been a few commentators recently that have said the Tikitaka approach, they feel like it's a waste of time, sometimes because you're just holding on the ball and just holding onto the ball and waiting for something to happen. And sometimes teams are just very defensively sound and they don't make mistakes. And you can hold onto the ball for 90 minutes, but if there's no gaps created, then what are you supposed to do? It's like an unstoppable force against an immovable object. You can hold onto the ball for as long as you want, but if there's no gaps, there's really nothing you can do. Whereas taking a more pragmatic approach and kind of letting other teams play and countering on mistakes or countering when teams give up the ball, there just seems to be a lot more space in those moments. And it's a great opportunity for high intensity, high pressing, fast teams to be able to exploit those spaces and to score goals. So look, I think I wouldn't say high possession is completely outdated, but it does seem to be getting a little bit old fashioned because even teams that have traditionally rarely enjoyed possession, like Barcelona, like you mentioned, Yang Guang, they do seem to be altering their approach a little bit and that might just be an adaptation to modern football, which does seem to be shifting more towards, you know, high pressing intensity and pragmatism. So, you know, having, you know, first of all, starting with a very disciplined defensive setup, like we've seen on a slot in Liverpool and then being able to really quickly transition into attack, that does seem to be the modern way and it really does seem to be working for teams like Liverpool. And I don't know if Manchester City at the moment have the players or the tactical prowess and the ability to execute those sorts of tactical changes. And I think when they have tried to move things around Manchester City, they seem to have struggled. I mean, like I mentioned against, you know, they changed things around and went to a back three and they rarely struggled because of it. So, like you also mentioned, Yang Guang direct vertical passing, you know, that also seems to be a staple against teams that like to play with high position. But it definitely seems like teams that have a very solid defensive setup, they seem to be willing to allow other teams to enjoy position and, you know, wait for them to kind of make a mistake and then pounce on those mistakes and counter and use their speed and intensity to try and score goals. So that kind of, you know, lack of obsession with position and kind of allowing other teams to play football seems to be the modern way. - Yeah, that aligns with what I've heard recently with the saying that the three most effective and the most popular ways to score in today's football are long passes, transition and set pieces. I mean, look at the top teams, not only in Europe, but some other parts of the world, including some national teams, are hiring set piece coaches to specially design their corner and free kick tactics. And long passes, even goalkeepers today are required to send long accurate passes straight forward to their forwards to create chances and play a big role in attack and not even mentioning and more teams are focusing on playing transition. It's a strategy not only adopted by smaller sites nowadays, but some powerhouses. So I guess the era of Tikky Taka is going near its end, I'd say, but back to the city discussion today. - City has won four Premier League titles in the past five seasons and there are points winning capabilities, especially in the latter half of each season, the one titles is just crazy. But recently, Pep Guardiola admitted if the last two Liverpool in the next round, they would be dropped entirely from the title race in the Premier League, even though it's just now an eight-point gap. Can you do think City has been dropped from the Premier League title contention already? - Well, if we take a look at the standings, that there's only one out and out favourite in the race but now, and it is Liverpool. And since the new coach came, they have really been quite unstoppable. And I think even though eight points is a large margin, this early in the season, and City has been quite famous for their adaptability and resilience in the latter half of the season. So only one third of the games are played and they still stand a fair chance to fight against the Reds. But if they don't choose to make good use of the transfer window for fears of maybe the financial charges, I think Liverpool seems to have a fair chance this season to finally take over the dominance maintained by City for the last few seasons. - Yeah, Brandon, we saw how Manchester City suffered in a season when Liverpool won the Premier League title in 2020. They were, I guess, 17 points, if I'm not mistaken behind Liverpool at that season in the end. So do you think history will repeat itself this time? - It's interesting that I can't stop smiling, can you see that? But look, if Liverpool win the Premier League, if I'm not mistaken, I think they'll overtake Manchester United for total English league titles in terms of the overall record. So I don't know if I won Liverpool to win the title either. It might be better for United's overall record for City to win the title. But do I think history will repeat itself? Look, Liverpool under on a slot are looking really, really strong at the moment and they're just looking like they can't make any errors. They are looking so quick and strong and accurate and defensively resilient and then manager just oozes confidence and there just seems to be a really positive energy within the Liverpool squad and team at the moment. So it'll be interesting to see how long they can keep that momentum up. It's interesting that Tian Yu mentioned resilience and adaptability, particularly in the latter half of the season, he's right. City have been very good about that in the latter stages of the season and we've seen other teams like Arsenal in particular collapse when they've been unable to keep up with City's consistency. But that being said, this season, I think it seems like adaptability and resilience seems to be Manchester City's biggest problem. And I don't think we've seen this from Manchester City for a very long time. So I think this is going to be a true test of Pep Guardiola and some of his aging stars to see if they can really turn things around and hold onto that resilience and adaptability. And it seems like Pep Guardiola and some of his squad members that have been disciplined and loyal to him for such a long time and have executed his game plan for such a long time, seem to be really struggling at the moment. And then the players that come in to try and maintain that are also struggling. So it's going to be very difficult, I think, for Manchester City to turn things around and to keep up with Liverpool. It'll be also interesting to see, like you guys have mentioned, what they do in January, if they can do anything at all. I think it's Liverpool's to lose at this point in time. OK, let's see if Manchester City can catch up and bounce back in the following fixtures and re-clacks a long-lost confidence and form. With that, we end this episode of Sideline Story. Thank you so much for joining us. Subscribe to Sideline Story wherever you listen to podcasts. For more information, you can also check our website, radio.cgtn.com. See you next time. [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]