What Has Happened To Manchester City?

What Has Happened To Manchester City?

Manchester City are in a free fall. I am not being overdramatic when I say this. The club that has won four Premier League titles in a row currently sits in seventh place in the league with 28 points, 14 points back of league leaders Liverpool who also have a game in hand.

Looking at the table does not give the whole picture of City’s dire situation, however. In City’s last 10 matches, they have only earned eight points. Only two teams have earned fewer points than this during the same stretch, with these being newly promoted sides Leicester and Southampton.

Beyond points, it is also important to point out that City has a goal difference of +4 after scoring 30 goals and conceding 26. Liverpool, meanwhile, has a goal difference of +23.

Clearly, something is wrong with the former best team in the world. The question is, what? Below, we will take a deep dive into the five key reasons why Man City has struggled so much recently.

Rodri’s Injury:

This is the biggest reason that Manchester City is struggling. The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner was ruled out for the rest of the season after City’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal in September after suffering an ACL injury. We all knew Rodri was a world-class midfielder at this point. What we did not realize at the time was how vital Rodri truly was to Pep Guardiola‘s side.

Before Rodri was injured, City was first in the league with 12 points from 4 matches. Since his injury, they have only earned 15 points from 13 matches, which would put them in 15th place in the Premier League form table since Rodri’s injury.

This is alarming to look at, and you would be right to think it makes sense when you consider how good of a player Rodri is. He is an incredible asset in City’s attack thanks to his passing, playmaking and ability to score a goal, especially with a longer-range strike.

However, he is also an incredible asset to City’s defensive strength and organization. His physical attributes, defensive awareness and defending ability are vital to helping protect and aid City’s backline. He is world-class in both attack and defense, and there really is no one who can replace him.

This is the problem for City. No one can replace Rodri. Mateo Kovačić, İlkay Gündoğan and John Stones are simply not as good as Rodri is, especially in the defensive midfielder role. City simply cannot play the way they want to without Rodri, and with no replacement for him or Plan B in playstyle, they have struggled immensely.

Other Injuries:

On top of Rodri’s injury, City has also had to deal with a multitude of other player injuries. According to Premier Injury, the club has seen 14 players experience an injury that forces them to miss at least one game. This is the sixth-largest number of injuries for a Premier League side this year.

City has also experienced multiple long-term injuries to star players besides just Rodri. Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Rúben Dias and Stones have also suffered injuries that have taken multiple weeks to recover from.

The injuries have piled up for City this year, and the club has struggled to cope with it. Team cohesion has been severely damaged, and City often looks disjointed and out of synch on the field. With all of these injuries, there have even been times when the City bench was full of academy players that no one outside of the biggest Manchester City fanatics would recognize due to the amount of first-team players out.

Not being able to keep star players healthy and the lack of cohesion that has come with all of the club’s injuries has severely cost Manchester City so far this season. The injury bug has repeatedly and repeatedly battered the club so far, and if City wants to turn things around, they will need to do a better job of managing injured and bring in much-needed depth in the January transfer window.

An Overreliance on Erling Haaland:

Having Erling Haaland on your team is great, but Manchester City has developed an overreliance on the Norwegian striker. While he may be the best striker in the world, he was eventually going to experience a dry spell, and that time has finally come.

Since late September, Haaland has only scored four goals. While City has still been scoring goals without Haaland, no one has been able to replace his usual production.

This is a huge problem for City. After selling Julian Alvarez this summer, the club has no one left who can take some of the goal-scoring weight off Haaland’s shoulders. With no one stepping up to fill the void left by Haaland’s lack of goals, City has struggled offensively, and this offensive struggle that has come from being too reliant on Erling Haaland is a big reason why City is currently freefalling.

Miserable Defending:

Pep’s sides have been incredibly strong defensively in recent years, which, paired with their quality on the ball and prolificness in front of goal, made them practically unbeatable in the Premier League.

This year, Manchester City looks shambolic in defense. In 18 Premier League games, City has conceded 26 goals. That is 9 more than Liverpool and 10 more than Arsenal. It is also more than any other club in the top eight.

Man City also has only three clean sheets this year, meaning they have been scored on at least once in 15 of their 18 league games.

When looking at the goals City has conceded this year, the defensive flaws are evident. Players are not communicating, not tracking their runners, not winning headers and not making tackles when they need to. On top of that, both Ederson and Stefan Ortega have been poor relative to their standards in goal.

While injuries have played their part, the reality is that City’s defense has not looked good since the beginning of the season. Without having a solid backline, City has struggled to win games that most of us have expected them to.

Phil Foden:

This is a reason that is not talked about enough. Phil Foden has been terrible this season. Ever since the Euros this past summer, he has been a shell of himself on the field.

Last season’s Premier League player of the season has only one goal and one assist so far this season. While I talked a lot about City’s overreliance on Erling Haaland earlier, City has also struggled offensively due to Foden’s poor season.

Phil Foden had 27 goals and assists last season. This year he has only had two. Foden’s poor form has hurt Man City’s attacking threat this season, and the defending champions need him to find his form once again.

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