Manchester City’s crisis shows no end. There was a draw against Everton on Boxing Day. Coach Pep Guardiola now wants reinforcements – but in doing so he is concealing the actual problems.
Pep Guardiola is experiencing the most difficult time of his coaching career, in which things have always been uphill and from title celebration to title celebration. Manchester City have only won one of their last 13 competitive games, the 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest at the beginning of December was supposed to be the end of their previous low – but then the mess actually got worse with one point from five games.
City often strong to “brilliant” – but then unsuccessful
The yield itself is astonishing for the exceptional English team of recent years, but the way it is done is downright adventurous. In the 1-1 draw against Everton on Boxing Day (December 26, 2024), Guardiola praised his team “a brilliant performance” – and that was actually at least not much of an exaggeration.
Manchester dominated, created a series of chances, didn’t act like a team in crisis – but then they scored like one. And that’s how it has been so often in the last few weeks, sometimes no plausible reasons can be found for the results, City are currently experiencing a time in which everything is going against them.
Like now against Everton, when Erling Haaland missed the lead with a penalty, or before against local rivals United, when there was an equalizer and goal in the last minutes to make the final score 1-2. Or the 3-3 draw in the Champions League against Feyenoord Rotterdam after a 3-0 lead, when the “Citizens” suddenly felt their legs shaky as if they were controlled by someone else. More and more trauma develops, but Guardiola perhaps makes it a little too easy for himself with his way out.
Starting eleven against Everton was worth 742 million euros
“We have to sign players. Absolutely. We have problems, especially at the back and in the middle. I think we have to, but I don’t know if that will happen. The winter transfer window is not easy.”said the 53-year-old on Boxing Day. But is that really the solution? Is it really the composition of the squad or rather the performance of the players who led him to the championship title four times in a row? Shouldn’t he spice it up again?
Man City’s starting eleven against Everton had a market value of 742 million euros (source: transfermarkt.de) – this team would therefore already be in the top 10 of overall squad values worldwide. We’re not talking about robots here, which must have a certain level of quality given their high value, but about people – it’s still an indication that this team is certainly not too weak to be successful.
Only Haaland and Co. can help Man City immediately
Guardiola is considered the world’s best coach and he is now being criticized for suggesting that his current approach to tackling his biggest crisis is a shopping spree. In the previous weeks, the Spaniard had sometimes blamed himself, sometimes the many injuries, but never the players who were on the pitch. These are exactly the people who are the only ones who can get the club, the coach and themselves out of the hole straight away.
If Ederson and Co. hadn’t suddenly made a wild mistake against Rotterdam, if Savinho hadn’t played a hair-raising back pass too short against Manchester United or if Haaland had missed his penalty against Everton – the “Citizens” wouldn’t have their problems. Lots of subjunctives, but the solution every time is the players failing at tasks that are not highly complicated.
Manchester City around Erling Haaland is disappointed after the 1-1 draw against Everton
Perhaps it is time for Guardiola to stop citing other issues and instead hold his players accountable. Manchester doesn’t need new professionals, just its current ones in the old form. And we haven’t even talked about whether the desperate call for even more stars is the right signal when you’re the coach of a club that is expecting a verdict soon after the investigation into 115 possible violations of financial rules.