Has Guardiola’s reveal led to Manchester City’s demise?

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It was the beginning of February that Manuel Pellegrini announced that he would be leaving at the end of the season and Pep Guardiola would be taking over. This was a day before City travelled to Sunderland. They managed a 1-0 win against the black cats in a hard fought match. After the game Joe Hart told BBC that “We’re here to win trophies” following up with “Yesterday’s news was never going to be a distraction”(  ). At that moment in time, the blue half of Manchester were in all competitions but very recently standards have started to slip. Is this a simple lack of motivation from players and manager alike, or is there more to it?

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Lack of motivation in football is something that we shouldn’t see at this level or indeed any level. The players get paid to do a job, win and entertain on the pitch for the fans of the off it. Manchester City, as the final third of the season approaches, have gone and left people questioning the work rates of everyone bar one or two players. It’s not a professional attitude to allow themselves to think; the manager is leaving at the end of the season so we don’t need to play for him anymore. Likewise, the manager thinking he’s leaving at the end of the season what happens after this isn’t his problem. With the manager leaving the club, it isn’t an ugly divorce, it’s something the players and manager should both deal with professionally. This new attitude has led City to fall down the Premier League. At the end of January before Pellegrini’s announcement, City sat 2nd in the table 3 points off leaders Leicester and 7 points clear of rivals Manchester United. Fast forward 3 months and City sit 4th just a point ahead of the Red Devils after they fell victim to them on home turf losing 1-0. Could this poor run of form be a motivational problem or could it be down to other factors?

Another factor, which is a point no-one can deny, is the Blues’ defence. From the start of the season to the end of January, City’s defence only leaked 23 goals in the Premier league and had lost just 5 games, one of which against Tottenham where they conceded 4. When Vincent Kompany got injured, it proved to be a big blow for City and on his return he hasn’t had the same impact with his niggling injury still affecting him. 3 months later, City have lost 4 games since Guardiola’s reveal and have conceded 9 since early February. Some of the defensive errors are down to the players and their lack of quality, not to pick on individuals but Martin Demichelis has to be singled out here. He is clumsy, lazy and single-handedly caused Joe Harts injury in the derby against Manchester United. Otamendi is another player who is struggling to keep up with the Premier league but he tries harder than Demichelis so over time and if he’s given enough time, he is bound to improve.

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As for City’s attacking game, they are still the 3rd highest scoring team in the Premier League with 52 goals but 45 of those were scored before Guardiola’s reveal. Since then they have scored 11 goals in 7 games, 4 coming against the almost relegated Aston Villa. So conceding 9 goals in 7 games, taking Aston Villa out of the equation, means City have scored 7 goals in 6 games. These stats show City’s poor form and why they have very slowly dropped out of the title race, now being 15 points adrift of Leicester.

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So looking at Man City, from keeper to striker, it’s clear that since Guardiola’s reveal they are marginally conceding more per game than they are scoring. Whether it’s a lack motivation causing it isn’t clear to see but the stats show that the priority is a change in defence to remove Martin Demichelis. It may sound harsh but if they make a change they may see a collectively improved work rate from the whole back four, especially if they bring in someone who is a leader to have a motivational an effect on the other under-performing players. At the end of the day, if it’s motivation City lack it will come back and bite the players on the backside because at this rate the Citizens aren’t going to be playing Champions league next season. This forces Guardiola’s hand as he has to come in and have a real effect because he didn’t come to manage an average Premier League side and if City don’t finish in the top 4 then it’s frankly embarrassing for both players and Guardiola alike.

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