by To suggest in early December of Manchester City’s post-treble season that Pep Guardiola isn’t sure which midfielder to choose seems unremarkable. As for the pass-and-move masters’ uber-multiplier, it’s as quaint as it is relevant to a current run of four consecutive Premier League games without a win – and three consecutive home defeats earlier in the campaign .
John Stones, Rico Lewis, Kalvin Phillips, Bernardo Silva, Manuel Akanji, Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic have been tried in central positions as Guardiola fiddles to find the winning combination. Recent injuries (to Kovacic and Nunes) could be a factor but given the depth of his resources the manager has failed. In the draws with Chelsea (4-4), Liverpool (1-1) and Tottenham (3-3) and Wednesday’s 1-0 loss at Aston Villa, Guardiola’s battle plan for possession is precision, geometric angles, composure, speed of thought and ruthlessness misfired.
Related: ‘I don’t look at those things’: Arteta targets Arsenal as City’s falling points
Go back to late September/early October and a similar pattern is found in Newcastle’s Carabao Cup wins and Wolves and Arsenal’s league wins.
In these games and at Villa on Wednesday there is a clear common denominator: the absence of Rodri, who has been suspended for all four. The Spaniard is the embodiment on the field of Guardiola, the quarterback-like No.
Due to Rodri’s absence the title race is wide open. City occupy the last guaranteed Champions League spot, six points behind Arsenal, and three ahead of (apparently) crisis-hit Manchester United.
It is strange that Guardiola would be about who he will play centrally considering his brilliant career in midfield and 15 years as a successful coach relying on the men who can “understand back and face”, as he showed them when the manager of Bayern Munich. .
But take his XI at Villa Park. Stones was in this Rodri position, so the 29-year-old didn’t need to step up from the back four in a hybrid role but to be the No. 6 dedicated who should run the competition. There were no stones. And Guardiola’s selection also benched three midfielders – Kovacic (second game back from injury), Nunes (first game) and Phillips – all signed by him. Kovacic and Nunes were recruited in the summer, one to replace the departed Ilkay Gündogan and the other, apparently, to replace Phillips, who was bought 12 months earlier, in whom the manager does not trust. The footballer Guardiola relied on centrally who started the game but operated on the right: Silva.
Confused? A little. Leon Bailey’s winner did not come from the usual way of defeating the champions – a counter-attack. Instead the Villa winger, under zero pressure, gathered out across City territory and turned and ran through the middle at the defence. Josko Gvardiol was left to try and stop him (he failed) where Rodri, understandably, was usually there to help him. Stones were awol.
A similar pattern was found in the back of September at Wolves, where Nunes and Kovacic started in two and were hooked on 45 and 65 minutes respectively, and at Arsenal the following week, when Silva had three, Kovacic and Lewis in the lineup and Kovacic and Lewis replaced midway through the second half. All this shows is that Guardiola has to get in Rodri’s ear about not being suspended again.
The drop of six points in the meetings with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham can be considered as less of a concern. Jürgen Klopp’s side are serious contenders so a 1-1 draw is hardly embarrassing, while newcomer Akanji has had to work alongside Rodri against the London clubs due to injuries to Kovacic and Nunes and status Phillips as a footballer Guardiola. non grata.
But this four league game winless streak is Guardiola’s longest since March-April 2017 and needs to be addressed. Nobody is saying that City aren’t still serious contenders for an historic fourth consecutive championship. As Klopp says, writing off the 52-year-old genius and his all-conquering unit would be the biggest “joke” in the annals of football. Especially since Guardiola should have a fresh and hungry Kevin De Bruyne back from injury.
But this is certainly an interesting moment for the man who said when he was at Bayern: “I want to have a thousand midfielders in my team because I believe the midfielders are smart and they understand the game.”
Guardiola also has a good understanding of his players and each opponent. As he says: “My job is to find a way to come back from the situation because over many years together we have been able to find a way to play games – sometimes good, sometimes not, but always we found a way to to do it – and now we are struggling. We have to change the dynamic.”
Don’t be surprised if City are an unstoppable force again soon.
