Can Manchester City find a way to turn fortunes around before it’s too late in season?

National World - LocalTV

A look at the current situation at MCFC.

Transcript

00:00Rich, looking at Manchester City, now obviously the incredible beast that they've become over

00:06the last four or five years in the top flight. They're probably one of the greatest Premier

00:12League outfits of all time, if not the. I mean, an incredible downfall, just so quickly

00:19and the spiral, you know, Roderick picking up the Ballon d'Or award, obviously taking

00:23it when he was injured as well. And then it sort of just spiralled so, so quickly downhill

00:29and, you know, we saw it last season as well when Audrey was injured and Guardiola had

00:33to find the solutions and they sort of still managed it. They still obviously returned

00:37the title. How do they sort of need to adjust to change things? You know, it seems like

00:45they're not sort of getting the best out of Haaland again. He's sort of struggling in

00:48the goal department, coming up a bit drier. What's the sort of, you know, it's got to

00:54be a change, but it can't be so exaggerated that Guardiola changes his style and it's

00:59a winning style. But there's so much wrong with Manchester City at the moment. They need

01:04to make sure they turn it around before it's too late. You know, they're going to want

01:08to still be competing in the Champions League, in the Premier League as well. And it just

01:14seems like Liverpool are pulling ahead in the Prem and then they could be falling behind

01:18in Europe as well.

01:21It's a really difficult one because, you know, so often head coaches and managers talk

01:26about the fine margins and there's been some big glaring issues for City in recent games,

01:31but there's been just moments in the match that have gone against them and the whole

01:34momentum has changed. You look back to the Derby defeat against Man United. If Mateusz

01:38Nunes doesn't make one, a bad pass and then a rush decision to take Amad out, they'd probably

01:45go on and win that game. Instead, it sets off a series of events and they go on and

01:48lose it. And then the snowball grows bigger again. And it just feels like a lot of those

01:54sort of small margins have gone against City. And there's a number of reasons for that.

01:58In years gone by, most of them have gone in City's favour. They've obviously had some

02:03odds against them in matches, but they've always found a way. And right now, I just

02:06think they're doubting themselves. They've lost that winning instinct. City used to take

02:10to the pitch and you'd always think they'd win. They'd be losing 2-0, you know, or 3-0

02:15against teams. You'd be like, oh, but City will come back. City always come back. And

02:18if they go behind early on, you think, of course they're going to win at City. They're

02:21inevitable. And they've just lost that inevitability and that sense of almost entitlement that

02:26they're going to win every single game. I think in terms of what it does is, one, it

02:31makes you realise how good an achievement the last few years have been. I don't think

02:34City got near enough credit for what they had achieved because of the money spent and

02:38all the headlines around them and the uncertainty of the charges. But in terms of an actual

02:43sporting feat and what the players did on a pitch every single week, they won, they

02:47won, they won. So I think, one, it reflects really well on what City have done previously.

02:51It's the ultimate backhanded compliment. It only emphasises how good Rodri is as well

02:56that they're missing him so much. And I think it sets up a really intriguing January transfer

03:01window because City have long said, look, everyone from the outside says we've got immense

03:06squad depth, but we don't actually think we do. We've only got this sort of 15, 16 senior

03:10players. No one else are youngsters. And what City have done so well is they've been

03:14able to replace key players who are not there. They'd make a positional change. They'd put

03:17someone in that you've not really heard of. They'd make someone better. And now they've

03:22got to do it again. And ahead of the January window, I think it's clear that they need

03:26some reinforcement. They're quite fortunate the table is still very open. I still think

03:31they'll be fine in the Champions League because of the new format. And I think in the Premier

03:35League as well, it only takes one good week and they could be right up there again. Not

03:39challenging for the title, but part of the chase and pack. I think right now for City

03:43fans, given the way the season's gone, given the players who are missing, Champions League

03:47qualification, perhaps an FA Cup trophy as well. That would be a relative good season

03:53to salvage from the situation. So I don't think it's all doom and gloom yet, just because

03:57a lot of those defeats have been in Cup competitions where there's maybe a bit more leeway as well,

04:01but certainly something's not right. But if there's someone who can put things right,

04:05it's Pep Guardiola.

Category

Transcript

Recommended