MANCHESTER – Pep Guardiola had enough to worry about before Manchester City became embroiled in what is arguably the biggest Premier League scandal of all time.
Off the field, City are facing allegations from the club violate a number of financial regulations with its lavish expenses. On it, Guardiola faces his own battle to defend the league title and keep his team’s season on track.
While City’s position in the standings remains healthy enough, five points behind leaders Arsenal in second place, Sunday’s defeat against Tottenham led to a growing feeling that all is not well at the club. That was already the case before the Premier League bombing on Monday.
In fact, there was a sense of unease and uncertainty at the club for much of the season. Erling Haaland is increasingly becoming a probe as he tries to decipher what is wrong at City.
“Erling was fantastic. Nobody says anything when they score goals and win,” said City defender Kyle Walker. “All of a sudden they’re like, if we don’t win and he doesn’t score, ‘Is that the problem? Do we play better without him?’ I hear it all the time.”
Walker is right but his comments also suggest doubts are filtering through to the players from outside the club.
Haaland was outstanding, scoring 31 goals in 27 games. However, City has become more predictable because he has such a prominent target in the centre-forward.
Guardiola has relied on goals from across his squad in recent years, making it difficult for opposition defenses to close down dangerous areas. City’s tally of 53 goals from 21 games, while identical to his record at the same point last season, is eight points fewer.
Even with Haaland, City are finding it harder to win games – three fewer than at this point last season.
However, the problems do not rest solely on Haaland’s shoulders. After all, he produces remarkable numbers in front of goal. And Guardiola appears to be focused on other areas of his squad. Last month, he noted that a team that has won four of the last five league titles has lost its lead.
“We are far from the team we had in previous seasons,” said Guardiola. “Do you think we will chase the Arsenal gap the way we play? No way.”
With a squad full of world-class players, Guardiola has the luxury of leaving out some of his biggest names to freshen things up.
One of Europe’s brightest young talents, Phil Foden has been a marginal figure at times this season. Ruben Dias, voted England’s Player of the Year and 2021 Champions League Best Defender, has not started a league game since October and has not started one for City since November. Joao Cancelo was loaned out to Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day after being on the bench for the past few weeks.
Most curious, however, was the decision to bench Kevin De Bruyne against Tottenham.
Guardiola is known for making unexpected calls but letting De Bruyne out of such an important game was a key statement that backfired as City lost 1-0 and missed a chance to cut Arsenal’s lead to two points.
Guardiola seems to be looking for ways to elicit a reaction from his squad at a point in the campaign when everything is still to play. Cancelo’s exit and De Bruyne’s bench press appear to be drastic attempts to make his point, but they also raise questions about what he will attempt next.
Guardiola is in his seventh year at City – he has never stayed at a club so long since becoming manager. He may now have to oversee his most extensive squad reshuffle since his first acquisition in 2016.
But that is for the future. At the moment City is still fighting for three trophies.
However, solving the problems off the field could be much more difficult.
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