Eight weeks, 12 games and nine defeats into Manchester City's descent into the footballing upside down, Pep Guardiola has at least identified the problem. "We haven't scored the goals we scored before, and we have conceded the goals we didn't concede," Guardiola told the BBC cameras after the defeat at Villa Park on Saturday, speaking in that now-familiar watery, rambling drawl, the voice of a man being encouraged by paramedics to talk about defensive injuries and midfield duels in order to keep himself awake until the ambulance arrives.
So, there it is then. Score more goals. Concede fewer. Win rather than lose. This is the Pep's razor explanation for a period during which the team that would previously drain the emotional life out of opponents have become not just beatable but zombified, sclerotic and even oddly disturbing, meandering possession-based football as an expression of the death of love, life, hope.
So. How did that happen exactly then? And are we allowed at any stage to blame the manager himself for any of this? As City prepare for the visit of Everton today there are two things worth saying about the run to this point.
Most startling of all is the sheer scale of that drop-off. This is arguably the most profound internal collapse of any champion team in the modern age.
Almost exactly a year ago to the day, a team featuring 10 of the players who were on the pitch at Villa Park defeated Fluminense 4-0 in Jeddah. In that moment City unified the belts, the first club to be simultaneous winners of the Champions League, Premier League, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Super Cup. The peak had been scaled. There were no other peaks. This was it. All of these things under the sun I will give to you.
This story is from the December 26, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the December 26, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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