I want to think that teams have just gotten better. The notion that city are worse seems to disregard the effort other teams put in to make themselves better or worthy opponents to the standards city set
I think all the typical contenders are a bit more flawed this season. Apart from the villa game, City were dominant and just dropped points via slipping up in 1 or 2 key moments
@@0riginalFIR3 I agree with this. They may not be as good as they were because maybe they have declined in performance and personnel but also because teams have found solutions to the issues city's style of play poses. Like the villa game. Villa was just too good
@drep9028 how about u realize that arsenal played better than last season when they faced city. Wolves also created problems for city because or how they chose to play. Chelsea also set up so that they are successful against the way city chose to play. We cannot deny these teams credit for how well they executed their game plans against city
Can’t believe the club didn’t approach Gundogan earlier and then compounded that with a weird, half-hearted approach for a replacement. De Bruyne, Gundogan, and Mahrez all the players to buy a win in the dying minutes of games as well. I think they’re still one of the top 2-3 teams in the country but missing the experience to carry them through tough moments.
City won titles with kdb injured and Mahrez didn’t play that much last season. These players won a treble last year and won multiple league titles. Kovacic also won a cl with Chelsea. I don’t see experience being an issue here.
People are so quick to call the Prem the best league in the world, but also don't give players and teams time to accommodate. KDB injured and lost Gundogan. Their replacements haven't settled yet. The other signings and managers in the league have settled, like Liverpool and Villa, so now they're competitive. Ebb and flow.
That is also true. And despite that, City led most of their games. It's the same people who brag about the league being wealthy and call for City's head due to their spending 😕
@@MesterWilliam-ny9nqno player really settles in very fast in Pep's City. I only remember haaland and Alvarez recently. Even akanji wasn't so good at the start of last season.
City have lost their entire starting midfield from last season at points and one of the most creative wingers in the world. They were always going to struggle because they replaced them with mid. People thought that you could put almost any player in a Pep system and it would work, but they've forgotten how good these players were induvidually.
Equally, it also takes time to get up to speed with Pep's system. You see now how individually gifted City players were last year, but the first season for each of those players under Pep, were tough too
I would say we have been quite bad with defensive 1v1s and as Pep also mentions we have played really well even with the absence of KDB and lack of any attackers on the right side, really the main issue lies with the defensive efforts where someone like Kyle is worse defensively which has been a massive surprise especially after last season
Walker has been a lot more offensive this season so he has to face the drawbacks of a inverted fullback whereas last season he played a more traditional attacking full back role
City lost 3 times this season and all 3 were in the absence of Rodri. Simply not having a good backup for him have made a good difference in the case of City's decline this season.
Tired after a treble season, squad a year older, lost significant players to transfers/injury and in some cases the replacements aren't 1:1 and in some cases they're taking time to bed in. Plus, Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool are all better than last year and have closed the gap. Which leads to a much more interesting title race. :)
@@nathski22 absolutely. The defense still does not have much to do...just that they are slipping up when they do have work to do. Palace had 5 shots...2 on target and still drew the came. Carelessness
It's not only that, the tactics have not been working. Ederson is very bad (always was). Midfield & attack players are playing out of their positions. Julian is great as a CF paired with Doku & Gvardiol & has a good link up play with Haaland & Foden. After KDB's injury, the team stopped playing long ball. Pep trying to turn Akanji & Stones into TAA or trying to turn one of them into Cancelo is not working. Ake is more suitable for long-range passes. I feel like he should have experimented with Phillips for attack play. Rodri is good don't get me wrong but he slows game play down too often (I get it, he's a holding midfield). Nunes & Kovacic aren't working. They seemed like panic buys. We need risk in offense. We are predictable & defense is so comfortable.
But when United fans mention no Casemiro, Martinez, and for LARGE parts of the season, no Mount, Eriksen, Shaw, AWB, Sancho. Varane was even injured for a couple of weeks. 5/6 of those players usually start every game for United
Manchester City suddenly lost most of their key players in De Bruyne, Gundogan, Rodri AND Mahrez so of course they were going to struggle to play as well as they did last season, and this is just like what happened to Erik Ten Haag ever since he lost the core of his team in Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Varane a very long time ago and hasn't looked the same since. What do people expect from these managers? This was bound to happen!
I also think the new extra extra time is against a team like City who usually just look to see out their leads. It favors the chasing team, which is most teams v City
It's down to multiple things 1) tactical evolution. Teams have cottoned on to city's style of play and their man to man press and can play through it 2) City are also creating less chances, in high quality leagues it's common that this isn't sustainable and will catch up with thems 3) Injuries, Pep isn't trusting backups and due to injuries he is starting to put square pegs in round holes.
Manchester City suddenly lost most of their key players in De Bruyne, Gundogan, Rodri AND Mahrez so of course they were going to struggle to play as well as they did last season, and this is just like what happened to Erik Ten Haag ever since he lost the core of his team in Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Varane a very long time ago now. What do people expect from these managers? This was bound to happen!
I think the key point is with those four players (Gomez, Phillips, Nunes & Kovacic) Pep is reluctant to use. When Phillips, Nunes & Kovacic do play, they look a little bit lost and uncertain. This all means they’re actually very light in the one area you wouldn’t expect a Pep team to be: midfield. I’m not sure how many more seasons they’re likely to get out of De Bruyne as a world class midfielder either. Just writing that makes me rather sad - why do they have to get old, eh readers? Their best midfield 3, with everyone fit, is probably Bernardo, Rodri and De Bruyne, which will still be amazing. Foden and Grealish are probably the best two wide options and Doku & Alvarez will be great impact players. They really need those quality midfielders in reserve too though. Either things will have to click for Phillips, Nunes & Kovacic soon, or they’ll need to have another roll of the dice in the transfer market in January and spend big on the best available option out there.
Definitely a bit of both. There's bound to be fatigue (physically and mentally) after a treble. Injuries/suspensions/transfers as well have been a problem and have identified an interesting point that Man City are perhaps more reliant on individuals than one may have thought (KDB, Rodri, Haaland recently, and the loss of Gundo). Not getting Rice was a big mistake from City, they should have pursued him to the absolute max.
The gundogan miss is critical. He was fundamental to the city way of playing. As you say foden turning over that ball that started the build up to the palace penalty showed it starkly.
Can you do a video on Bologna? They've had a big win v. Roma and they're in the top 4 at the moment. Thiago Motta is doing great stuff, and is highly linked with AC Milan... Also only barely overperforming xPTS unlike Girona/Villa/Leverkusen
@Tifo IRL....why do you look at expected goal difference as the metric of underlying performance? I would think that expected points based on the expected goal difference by game is a better metric because it accounts for the discrete nature of individual games whereas overall expected goal difference could be skewed by a very strong performance in one game offsetting relatively weaker performance over a number of other games. But curious to know your thoughts.
In attack, I like to think we’ve been doing just fine but in defence, we have been piss poor this season which is something we were quite strong at last season.
Akanji in midfield not starting Ake walker looking trash Nunez and kovacic being underwhelming there's a lot of things going wrong. I also think when doku plays we're worse defensively because grealish is so good defensively on the left.
@@S-man26ye problem is still with poor form from the defenders, specifically dias.. but then again they just need someone in there to be the man thatll bring back their run of form last season
I wish I felt sorry for city with regards to KDB. However given how all the ‘everyone gets injuries’ palaver of last season I’m nowt bothered. Doku seems to be a decent signing and has helped where they have lacked what KDB brings.
i think its down to the players,if u think man city were supposed to win vs liverpool tottenham chelsea palace but blow the leads with lackluster defending.The chances we have been missing even haaland is missing sitters.I think control is another factor,pep says he doesnt trust foden in midfield because he does everything at speed very one paced.he has often played alverez as the 8.The problem is that gundogan brought control ,alvarez is a striker,doesnt have gundogan la pausa, so often if doku,alvarez and foden are on the pitch we lose control that we had last season with grealish de bruyne and gundo.Stones has been injured so akanji has played the inverted cb role.Its not his best position,he doesnt give us what stones gives us.Defensively we are a shambles walker has been used sometimes as a winger with foden tucking inside it hasnt worked.We need everyone fully fit
Can't judge them when KDB hasn't been around. In fact, his absence is what's giving more teams an exciting race to the title this season, otherwise I believe they'd have been in City's rearview mirror by Christmas. Look what he did in the first season after receiving the gift of Haaland joining them. Imagine what would have happened this next season.
@@sudiptab57 their bench don't have the reliability that they had with gundogan and Mahrez(who i could argue were their most clutch players last season)
Of course de bruyne is one of the best in the world, but if they're only winning titles and leaving teams miles behind because of one player, then surely they're not a great team?
YES we are. The City board bottled the summer transfer window in terms of bringing in players of both quality and experience that were needed in the midfield; Pep's tactics are using players that cannot deliver in the positions they're playing (which brings us to the aforementioned issue) as Pep is doing it bc he has not alternative (he could change his tactics to suit the players he has, but that remains to be seen); think some players are just off it and should be benched (Walker offers nothing in attack and as he tries, he then becomes a defensive liability not being able to get back quick enough) same with Gvardiol to a degree which is why he should play CB and have Ake as LB. It is kind of like a cascade/waterfall effect. Each issue on its own would be okay if the other areas of the team are functioning, but that is not the case, hence they are failing
Excellent analysis. They've definitely missed all of the above. Haaland has missed some huge opportunities leading to games remaining closer than they should have been. King Kev returned vs Huddersfield and was a welcome sight. No team in any league is getting the type of player that he is. If he stays healthy, and Haaland/Stones return to form I suspect it's going to be difficult to derail them. That being said, the competition top to bottom in the PL is ferociously competitive. Lots of twists and turns upcoming
It might also be the amount of minutes they play (new added extra time) combined with injuries and Pep not subbing players (because he probably doesn’t trust his “bench”), because they are dropping points late in the games (Arsenal, Spurs or Palace for example).
I’d say the main issue is missing players and players leaving because we are not a bad team or anything because at the start of the year we were great but rodri got suspended and our form dipped after that a bit but we aren’t bad and we’ve been unlucky with some questionable decisions gone against us like the Alvarez goal that was disallowed because it was offside but the same rule was applied when United scored against city last season I think and the goal stood because apparently there was no interference. It’s not a big deal as a city fan because we’ve won so much but the change in so many players has led to a change in the teams mentality almost I’d say because we look a little bit shaky but it’s too early to be counting us out and specially when we have kdb yet to come back and stones getting his fitness back
De Bruyne when he's healthy is one of (if not the best) midfielder in the world. He's been out all year - it's normal to not look the same without him.
He should just keep playing the 3-2-4-1 formation he used against Madrid and he should just use gvardiol as a cb.Peps lack of use for stones is what I see for the fault of city’s downfall as he only used subs late on the palace game.
Excellent work, guys!! Really great analysis of City's squad. Can you discuss whether changing Manchester United's formation to a 3-5-2, etc. could win them more games?
Other teams have definitively gotten better, but the loss of Gundogan especially is a though one. Not to mention having Kevin De Bruyne out for so long hurts not just the team in general, but the quality of chances they themselves have. Its also apparent that the games where Rodri is injured or suspended that their midfield seems to crumble
I don’t know what you expect? Do City have to keep getting better and better otherwise it’s noteworthy? Even after winning a treble? After winning 3 PLs in a row? Nobody else gets judged by these standards.
Very astute points! I also think mental fatigue is a factor, made worse by the suspensions & injuries bc players who area avail are playing more & thus more prone to mental lapses.
It is just tactics. Walker is getting old and yet he plays every 90 minutes. Pep is also reserved whanit comes to substitution. He relies on old players. No wonder they always concede around the 90 minute.
I wanted City to go for Goretzka, Writz and Olise this transfer window. Gorestzka can fill in for Stones while Writz could have filled in for KDB. Olise has the best xG from set pieces. Him as a RW would have been phenomenal!
Last season, depending on Haaland scoring worked spectacularly. However a couple of personnel changes some injuries and Haaland not being as effective is taking its toll. City have sacrificed a free flowing team approach being effective all over the pitch in favour of getting the ball to Haaland asap.
I always knew city’s main strength was their depth. It’s sad that they just moved on loads of players with lack of replacements. They’ll sort it out in January as many city fans would hope. I don’t support city so I am sort of happy about their bad patch, but It’s depressing thinking city were such a great side just a few months ago, best attacking side, just fell off a cliff but won’t be for long.
Come on - Pep has never ever had depth to his squad. This season it's more about the change in profile in the recruitment, coupled with missing the most key of key cogs in KDB and Stones (for the most part) and Rodri (for his naughtiness)
@@fpldirectory6753mate the city team last year had: GK: Ederson/Ortega DEF: Walker, Dias, Laporte, Stones, Akanji, Aké, Cancelo(half the season), Lewis MID: KDB, Silva, Gundogan, Phillips, Rodri, Foden ATT: Grealish, Haaland, Mahrez, Foden also can play here, Alvarez If this isnt depth, idk what is
@@fpldirectory6753 pep has never ever had depth to his squad? Are you trolling or what lol 😂. Who had the most depth in the PL last season then Einstein 😂😂😂
losing mahrez and gundogan in the transfer market and kdb to injury with no real replacements at those positions would make any team worse. The only real signings were a direct competitor with Jack grealish for seemingly no reason and two croats, one pretty okay midfielder and one massively overrated defender.
City didn't adequately replace Gundogan or got a DM to cover Rodri not surprised they lose whenever he's not in the team. Foden hasn't taken enough responsibility esp with now KDB has been injured for months.
I know this isn't about a single game but cry as Man City might about their midfield options they have no excuses against Palace. Crystal Palace started the game with a centre midfield of Jairo Riedewald and Chris Richards with quickly became Jairo Riedewald and David Ozoh after an injury to Joel Ward.
If KDB was fit man city would be top of the league. Its David Sliver and Kompany all over again for Peps boys. Lost the captain, lost the heart of the team.
Manchester City suddenly lost most of their key players in De Bruyne, Gundogan, Rodri AND Mahrez so of course they were going to struggle to play as well as they did last season, and this is just like what happened to Erik Ten Haag ever since he lost the core of his team in Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Varane a very long time ago now. What do people expect from these managers? This was bound to happen!
The underlying numbers don't lie. Just shows you City are judged on a different pedestal - when really it's all aprt of the natural circle of football life. People now realise how important Gundogan was to City last season and they really should have fought harder to keep him.
1. City are worse (KdB, Gundo, injuries) 2a. Last year's top-half teams got better 2b. Terrible promoted teams mean "lesser," clubs are picking up points in matches they would have dropped points in. 3. Cole Palmer sale
a really long video that can be summed up by rodri has missed a lot of key matches and is clearly a linchpin for the squad, KDB has been out the whole season so far and he is one of the best players in the world, and lacking gundo this season has given even less depth in the center midfield. given the style of play Pep has them playing, they need to control the midfield. Lacking that core impacts the output from the forwards and wingers, and the fullbacks aren't able to cover for the lack of midfield presence. And yet they're only a couple results off of first place in a very competitive race for the title this season.
First and foremost I hate Man city with a fiery passion. That being said, I think they’re having a treble hangover coupled with missing Mahrez and Gundogan who had goals in them. They didn’t replace either of these two guys. They might increase their xG with KDB’s return soon but they’re also still leaking goals like crazy.
Sorry city can’t complain when they have back up for Rodri with players who have been playing in the league for years. Their squad is still much better than most PL teams if not all. Pep just refused to play them.
I have zero love for City. Broken FFP rules. Stupidly expensive team. Very unlikeable players like Grealish and Rodri. Pep's visionary thinking has let him down. The team he put out against Real in the semi-finals last year cost an average of 60 million per player. So cry me a river that things are not looking as peachy as they did last year. And it's not all down to losing KDB. When you have a squad that expensive you can put someone else in. Other teams just got better and be brave and know how to press and push City.
Haaland's presence made opponent team can predict what man city can do he barely aggresive without the ball, also de bruyne out of injury rodri can't even fill his position
Just ask more money from the Sheikh and sign more players to replace the players who aren't good enough, if FFP is the issue some loopholes can surely be found to circumvent it.
I think this is the end of Manchester City’s dominance in the league. Pep will never win back-to-back leagues again and this has nothing to do with Pep’s skills as a manager. He still is as good, but it has to do with Manchester City not being able to spend their way out of this problem. As Tifo said, this is an issue with the personnel and Manchester City can’t do what they did when Pep came in. He bought Claudio Bravo and the next season they should have another goalkeeper and two full-backs for a lot of money. Manchester City can’t do that anymore with the 115 charges behind their back that Pep faces. He is a cheque book manager who spends his way out of trouble. This city team requires surgery. It kind of reminds me of Liverpool’s transition last season where they needed new midfielders and they bought them this season. The difference between Klopp and Pep is Klopp can make very ordinary players into world-class players. Pep prefers buying the finished product like Haaland etc.
City are coming to the end of their cycle, Pep hasn’t done a great job with the rebuild. Couple that with the other teams in the league upping their level. The gap is finally closing…
![Digital Circus Episode 4 [TRAILER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/abZtsmMUbJo/mqdefault.jpg)
I want to think that teams have just gotten better. The notion that city are worse seems to disregard the effort other teams put in to make themselves better or worthy opponents to the standards city set
Bit of both seems fair. Its hard to deny city are worse without kdb and gundo but other teams have gotten better too
I think all the typical contenders are a bit more flawed this season. Apart from the villa game, City were dominant and just dropped points via slipping up in 1 or 2 key moments
@@0riginalFIR3 I agree with this. They may not be as good as they were because maybe they have declined in performance and personnel but also because teams have found solutions to the issues city's style of play poses.
Like the villa game. Villa was just too good
@drep9028 how about u realize that arsenal played better than last season when they faced city. Wolves also created problems for city because or how they chose to play. Chelsea also set up so that they are successful against the way city chose to play.
We cannot deny these teams credit for how well they executed their game plans against city
@@claywandera2486 yeah true. Villa have been too good for most teams tho to be fair very impressive. City could do with luiz to give rodri some rest.
Everton deserves a video too, 10 points deduction and Dyche won 4 in a row with no goals conceded
They're unfashional club with an unfashionable manager. GL. I do like Everton, but they haven't got the razzmatazz that City has bought.
It's a wretched squad, I hope teams stop wasting points against them
Joe has already made a video about them when people were saying they were gonna get relegated.
They lost and conceded 3 to a bad and depleted Man U team after the points deduction actually
They miss KDB, plus the loss of Gundogan was huge too for them.
Can’t believe the club didn’t approach Gundogan earlier and then compounded that with a weird, half-hearted approach for a replacement. De Bruyne, Gundogan, and Mahrez all the players to buy a win in the dying minutes of games as well. I think they’re still one of the top 2-3 teams in the country but missing the experience to carry them through tough moments.
City won titles with kdb injured and Mahrez didn’t play that much last season. These players won a treble last year and won multiple league titles. Kovacic also won a cl with Chelsea. I don’t see experience being an issue here.
@taaaaaaaazzzzzz Kovacic is so poor technically compared to Gundogan, he doesn't see the next pass before receiving the ball .
@@y2k42y2k42 I prefer gundo as well, but what does that have to do with the argument about experience?
@@taaaaaaaazzzzzzexperience doesnt matter when your not up to the standard
@@AIvin. where did I say experience matters? Look at the initial comment, I already said experience is not the issue. Learn to read mate.
People are so quick to call the Prem the best league in the world, but also don't give players and teams time to accommodate.
KDB injured and lost Gundogan. Their replacements haven't settled yet. The other signings and managers in the league have settled, like Liverpool and Villa, so now they're competitive. Ebb and flow.
Stop talking so much sense please. You'll offend someone if you're not careful.
That is also true. And despite that, City led most of their games. It's the same people who brag about the league being wealthy and call for City's head due to their spending 😕
rice setteled instantly
@@MesterWilliam-ny9nq Some players do, some players don't. Messi didn't do well in his first season in Ligue 1.
@@MesterWilliam-ny9nqno player really settles in very fast in Pep's City. I only remember haaland and Alvarez recently. Even akanji wasn't so good at the start of last season.
City have lost their entire starting midfield from last season at points and one of the most creative wingers in the world. They were always going to struggle because they replaced them with mid. People thought that you could put almost any player in a Pep system and it would work, but they've forgotten how good these players were induvidually.
Equally, it also takes time to get up to speed with Pep's system. You see now how individually gifted City players were last year, but the first season for each of those players under Pep, were tough too
I would say we have been quite bad with defensive 1v1s and as Pep also mentions we have played really well even with the absence of KDB and lack of any attackers on the right side, really the main issue lies with the defensive efforts where someone like Kyle is worse defensively which has been a massive surprise especially after last season
Lack of true depth is showing now. True depth means fans, history, integrity; all the things cash won't get you.
Walker has been a lot more offensive this season so he has to face the drawbacks of a inverted fullback whereas last season he played a more traditional attacking full back role
blah blah blah city had more fans ,history than most of the english clubs barring the top 5 even before the takeover @@onevastanus
@@onevastanus No Need when you can win without them and Guys like you will cry every season.
@@Gantaipao Need! See fail and collapse.
City lost 3 times this season and all 3 were in the absence of Rodri. Simply not having a good backup for him have made a good difference in the case of City's decline this season.
Tired after a treble season, squad a year older, lost significant players to transfers/injury and in some cases the replacements aren't 1:1 and in some cases they're taking time to bed in.
Plus, Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool are all better than last year and have closed the gap.
Which leads to a much more interesting title race. :)
They have closed the gap to this city though. I still don’t see them beating a city in form like at the end of last season
Yes. And other teams have gotten better. Losing Gundo has hit us hard, KDB being out has been massive too.
If you look at it though...apart from the Villa game and wolves, City did more than enough to win and didn't due to lapse in 1 or 2 key moments
@@drep9028 our defence has looked worse than usual too. Dias has been off it. Those 1 or 2 lapses have cost us big this season. So far.
@@nathski22 absolutely. The defense still does not have much to do...just that they are slipping up when they do have work to do. Palace had 5 shots...2 on target and still drew the came. Carelessness
It's not only that, the tactics have not been working. Ederson is very bad (always was). Midfield & attack players are playing out of their positions. Julian is great as a CF paired with Doku & Gvardiol & has a good link up play with Haaland & Foden.
After KDB's injury, the team stopped playing long ball. Pep trying to turn Akanji & Stones into TAA or trying to turn one of them into Cancelo is not working. Ake is more suitable for long-range passes.
I feel like he should have experimented with Phillips for attack play. Rodri is good don't get me wrong but he slows game play down too often (I get it, he's a holding midfield).
Nunes & Kovacic aren't working. They seemed like panic buys. We need risk in offense. We are predictable & defense is so comfortable.
@@archaicrapture you made sense up until you said Ederson has always been bad. After that I couldn’t take anything you said seriously.
no KDB, Stones & rodri for large parts of the season ontop of losing gundogan and mahrez. theyll be happy only being 5 points behind at the moment
But when United fans mention no Casemiro, Martinez, and for LARGE parts of the season, no Mount, Eriksen, Shaw, AWB, Sancho. Varane was even injured for a couple of weeks. 5/6 of those players usually start every game for United
@@tnizz1965We're Manchester United. Of course everyone ignores that and attacks Ten Haag viciously
Manchester City suddenly lost most of their key players in De Bruyne, Gundogan, Rodri AND Mahrez so of course they were going to struggle to play as well as they did last season, and this is just like what happened to Erik Ten Haag ever since he lost the core of his team in Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Varane a very long time ago and hasn't looked the same since. What do people expect from these managers? This was bound to happen!
@@haimainjauo242 no its completely different because you cant compare the best team in the world to a team that has always looked bang average
I also think the new extra extra time is against a team like City who usually just look to see out their leads. It favors the chasing team, which is most teams v City
Would love to see a '90mins' table for this season
City haven’t lost points from winning positions late in the game at a high rate. This past weekend was the first time it happened all season to them
It's down to multiple things
1) tactical evolution. Teams have cottoned on to city's style of play and their man to man press and can play through it
2) City are also creating less chances, in high quality leagues it's common that this isn't sustainable and will catch up with thems
3) Injuries, Pep isn't trusting backups and due to injuries he is starting to put square pegs in round holes.
Just completely wrong
@@forkii4122what’s wrong about it. I see nothing but facts
@@forkii4122 great input to the conversation. Right back at you!
Manchester City suddenly lost most of their key players in De Bruyne, Gundogan, Rodri AND Mahrez so of course they were going to struggle to play as well as they did last season, and this is just like what happened to Erik Ten Haag ever since he lost the core of his team in Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Varane a very long time ago now. What do people expect from these managers? This was bound to happen!
I think the key point is with those four players (Gomez, Phillips, Nunes & Kovacic) Pep is reluctant to use.
When Phillips, Nunes & Kovacic do play, they look a little bit lost and uncertain.
This all means they’re actually very light in the one area you wouldn’t expect a Pep team to be: midfield.
I’m not sure how many more seasons they’re likely to get out of De Bruyne as a world class midfielder either. Just writing that makes me rather sad - why do they have to get old, eh readers?
Their best midfield 3, with everyone fit, is probably Bernardo, Rodri and De Bruyne, which will still be amazing. Foden and Grealish are probably the best two wide options and Doku & Alvarez will be great impact players.
They really need those quality midfielders in reserve too though. Either things will have to click for Phillips, Nunes & Kovacic soon, or they’ll need to have another roll of the dice in the transfer market in January and spend big on the best available option out there.
Definitely a bit of both. There's bound to be fatigue (physically and mentally) after a treble. Injuries/suspensions/transfers as well have been a problem and have identified an interesting point that Man City are perhaps more reliant on individuals than one may have thought (KDB, Rodri, Haaland recently, and the loss of Gundo). Not getting Rice was a big mistake from City, they should have pursued him to the absolute max.
The gundogan miss is critical. He was fundamental to the city way of playing. As you say foden turning over that ball that started the build up to the palace penalty showed it starkly.
You two are an actual dream team! Thank you!
Can you do a video on Bologna? They've had a big win v. Roma and they're in the top 4 at the moment. Thiago Motta is doing great stuff, and is highly linked with AC Milan... Also only barely overperforming xPTS unlike Girona/Villa/Leverkusen
@Tifo IRL....why do you look at expected goal difference as the metric of underlying performance? I would think that expected points based on the expected goal difference by game is a better metric because it accounts for the discrete nature of individual games whereas overall expected goal difference could be skewed by a very strong performance in one game offsetting relatively weaker performance over a number of other games. But curious to know your thoughts.
Guardiola always tweaks his tactics as well, but players need time to adapt to the system and Pep will find places to tinker to fit better as well
In attack, I like to think we’ve been doing just fine but in defence, we have been piss poor this season which is something we were quite strong at last season.
Akanji in midfield not starting Ake walker looking trash Nunez and kovacic being underwhelming there's a lot of things going wrong. I also think when doku plays we're worse defensively because grealish is so good defensively on the left.
Doku also slows the play down way too much which makes Haaland less effective with him
False, Doku is 2nd after Rodri when it comes to tackling
@@S-man26ye problem is still with poor form from the defenders, specifically dias.. but then again they just need someone in there to be the man thatll bring back their run of form last season
I don’t think, as a whole they’ve become worse, if you look back city had relied on a KDB, gundogan or Rodri goal.
Not even a goal, just general buildup and creativity. Especially kdb who has been the conductor for cities creative duties for years now.
I wish I felt sorry for city with regards to KDB. However given how all the ‘everyone gets injuries’ palaver of last season I’m nowt bothered.
Doku seems to be a decent signing and has helped where they have lacked what KDB brings.
i think its down to the players,if u think man city were supposed to win vs liverpool tottenham chelsea palace but blow the leads with lackluster defending.The chances we have been missing even haaland is missing sitters.I think control is another factor,pep says he doesnt trust foden in midfield because he does everything at speed very one paced.he has often played alverez as the 8.The problem is that gundogan brought control ,alvarez is a striker,doesnt have gundogan la pausa, so often if doku,alvarez and foden are on the pitch we lose control that we had last season with grealish de bruyne and gundo.Stones has been injured so akanji has played the inverted cb role.Its not his best position,he doesnt give us what stones gives us.Defensively we are a shambles walker has been used sometimes as a winger with foden tucking inside it hasnt worked.We need everyone fully fit
Can't judge them when KDB hasn't been around. In fact, his absence is what's giving more teams an exciting race to the title this season, otherwise I believe they'd have been in City's rearview mirror by Christmas. Look what he did in the first season after receiving the gift of Haaland joining them. Imagine what would have happened this next season.
Man City is worse because KDB isn't around.
Stop overrating KDB's impact. He's a good player but isn't the reason why city aren't winning
So just because KDB isn't playing MAN CITY's level have degraded that much?
Doesn't that mean they don't have a good bench?
@@sudiptab57 their bench don't have the reliability that they had with gundogan and Mahrez(who i could argue were their most clutch players last season)
Of course de bruyne is one of the best in the world, but if they're only winning titles and leaving teams miles behind because of one player, then surely they're not a great team?
No, they always do better 2nd half of season - This is pretty much there stable now.
As a City fan we've just been unlucky this season so far, I don't think we are worse in any way except for injuries/suspensions
I feel as though our defense has become much less reliable overall and like they said we’ve been allowing much higher quality chances
The tiny head shake of Jon Disappointment was lovely
YES we are.
The City board bottled the summer transfer window in terms of bringing in players of both quality and experience that were needed in the midfield;
Pep's tactics are using players that cannot deliver in the positions they're playing (which brings us to the aforementioned issue) as Pep is doing it bc he has not alternative (he could change his tactics to suit the players he has, but that remains to be seen);
think some players are just off it and should be benched (Walker offers nothing in attack and as he tries, he then becomes a defensive liability not being able to get back quick enough) same with Gvardiol to a degree which is why he should play CB and have Ake as LB.
It is kind of like a cascade/waterfall effect. Each issue on its own would be okay if the other areas of the team are functioning, but that is not the case, hence they are failing
Excellent analysis. They've definitely missed all of the above. Haaland has missed some huge opportunities leading to games remaining closer than they should have been. King Kev returned vs Huddersfield and was a welcome sight. No team in any league is getting the type of player that he is. If he stays healthy, and Haaland/Stones return to form I suspect it's going to be difficult to derail them. That being said, the competition top to bottom in the PL is ferociously competitive. Lots of twists and turns upcoming
Happiness is watching these two gentleman talk.
JJ has that 2008 look in him idk why
the hair
and shirt lol
It might also be the amount of minutes they play (new added extra time) combined with injuries and Pep not subbing players (because he probably doesn’t trust his “bench”), because they are dropping points late in the games (Arsenal, Spurs or Palace for example).
I’d say the main issue is missing players and players leaving because we are not a bad team or anything because at the start of the year we were great but rodri got suspended and our form dipped after that a bit but we aren’t bad and we’ve been unlucky with some questionable decisions gone against us like the Alvarez goal that was disallowed because it was offside but the same rule was applied when United scored against city last season I think and the goal stood because apparently there was no interference. It’s not a big deal as a city fan because we’ve won so much but the change in so many players has led to a change in the teams mentality almost I’d say because we look a little bit shaky but it’s too early to be counting us out and specially when we have kdb yet to come back and stones getting his fitness back
De Bruyne when he's healthy is one of (if not the best) midfielder in the world. He's been out all year - it's normal to not look the same without him.
He should just keep playing the 3-2-4-1 formation he used against Madrid and he should just use gvardiol as a cb.Peps lack of use for stones is what I see for the fault of city’s downfall as he only used subs late on the palace game.
I'd love to see that system back in full function but there has to be a reason why he's not using it as much.
@@MrHuph-vu2wcit appears like Walker was promised game time to stay, when the club panicked after losing Gundo
Excellent work, guys!! Really great analysis of City's squad. Can you discuss whether changing Manchester United's formation to a 3-5-2, etc. could win them more games?
is tifo actually worse this year?
yes.
They concede more goals this is not a good sign for title race 😅
Other teams have definitively gotten better, but the loss of Gundogan especially is a though one. Not to mention having Kevin De Bruyne out for so long hurts not just the team in general, but the quality of chances they themselves have. Its also apparent that the games where Rodri is injured or suspended that their midfield seems to crumble
I don’t know what you expect? Do City have to keep getting better and better otherwise it’s noteworthy? Even after winning a treble? After winning 3 PLs in a row? Nobody else gets judged by these standards.
Very astute points! I also think mental fatigue is a factor, made worse by the suspensions & injuries bc players who area avail are playing more & thus more prone to mental lapses.
pls tifo more frequent videos pls
Please could you do a video where you talk about other player who could play the John stones role/ centre back going into midfield. Thanks
It is just tactics. Walker is getting old and yet he plays every 90 minutes. Pep is also reserved whanit comes to substitution. He relies on old players. No wonder they always concede around the 90 minute.
I wanted City to go for Goretzka, Writz and Olise this transfer window. Gorestzka can fill in for Stones while Writz could have filled in for KDB. Olise has the best xG from set pieces. Him as a RW would have been phenomenal!
Brilliant analysis.
game after game individual errors leading to goals are the main worries this season
Gundi gone and KDB not being in there is massive. It takes new players to adjust as well.
Last season, depending on Haaland scoring worked spectacularly. However a couple of personnel changes some injuries and Haaland not being as effective is taking its toll. City have sacrificed a free flowing team approach being effective all over the pitch in favour of getting the ball to Haaland asap.
16 players on the pitch is an excellent strategy. #9:35
The leagues has got so much more intense in the last couple of years and teams have adapted to the intensity now you got mini man city in every team
That colossal gap without KDB playing is glaringly obvious when you watch them playing. They miss him more than Haaland.
I always knew city’s main strength was their depth.
It’s sad that they just moved on loads of players with lack of replacements.
They’ll sort it out in January as many city fans would hope.
I don’t support city so I am sort of happy about their bad patch, but It’s depressing thinking city were such a great side just a few months ago, best attacking side, just fell off a cliff but won’t be for long.
Come on - Pep has never ever had depth to his squad. This season it's more about the change in profile in the recruitment, coupled with missing the most key of key cogs in KDB and Stones (for the most part) and Rodri (for his naughtiness)
@@fpldirectory6753mate the city team last year had:
GK: Ederson/Ortega
DEF: Walker, Dias, Laporte, Stones, Akanji, Aké, Cancelo(half the season), Lewis
MID: KDB, Silva, Gundogan, Phillips, Rodri, Foden
ATT: Grealish, Haaland, Mahrez, Foden also can play here, Alvarez
If this isnt depth, idk what is
@@fpldirectory6753 pep has never ever had depth to his squad? Are you trolling or what lol 😂. Who had the most depth in the PL last season then Einstein 😂😂😂
@@diegomurua4798That does not make sense.. How can say City have it last season but not this season?
losing mahrez and gundogan in the transfer market and kdb to injury with no real replacements at those positions would make any team worse. The only real signings were a direct competitor with Jack grealish for seemingly no reason and two croats, one pretty okay midfielder and one massively overrated defender.
The money of simply existing in the premier league is catching up with the money of man city
City didn't adequately replace Gundogan or got a DM to cover Rodri not surprised they lose whenever he's not in the team. Foden hasn't taken enough responsibility esp with now KDB has been injured for months.
Mostly yes, there are other factors sure but let's not make excuses for this team that won the treble. They don't deserve excuses
Good video but unfair on Nunes and Kova who have played ok considering it’s their 5th month with the squad
Yes an episode!!!!!!
We ask this questions this time of year EVERY YEAR. 3 months later we regret asking it
Petition to rename the actual table: Overlying numbers.
high pressing and game management are the aspects that City lack this season.
I know this isn't about a single game but cry as Man City might about their midfield options they have no excuses against Palace. Crystal Palace started the game with a centre midfield of Jairo Riedewald and Chris Richards with quickly became Jairo Riedewald and David Ozoh after an injury to Joel Ward.
we all know that they still gonna go on a 20 games unbeaten streak and win the leagure
Write City off at your peril
If KDB was fit man city would be top of the league. Its David Sliver and Kompany all over again for Peps boys. Lost the captain, lost the heart of the team.
Defensive errors are the main cause for concern this season
Finally, some guys who ACTUALLY understand it and gets it.
the only thing it is missing this season is De Bruine and Gudogan
It’s almost like they’re missing their core players. Gundogan and KDB
tifo top 6 teams and a few videos about other teams. should be the name of this channel
Manchester City suddenly lost most of their key players in De Bruyne, Gundogan, Rodri AND Mahrez so of course they were going to struggle to play as well as they did last season, and this is just like what happened to Erik Ten Haag ever since he lost the core of his team in Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Varane a very long time ago now. What do people expect from these managers? This was bound to happen!
An Everton video would be fun
Without Guñdogan, Mahrez, and De Bruyne (so far), they are worse yes.
The underlying numbers don't lie. Just shows you City are judged on a different pedestal - when really it's all aprt of the natural circle of football life. People now realise how important Gundogan was to City last season and they really should have fought harder to keep him.
1. City are worse (KdB, Gundo, injuries)
2a. Last year's top-half teams got better
2b. Terrible promoted teams mean "lesser," clubs are picking up points in matches they would have dropped points in.
3. Cole Palmer sale
a really long video that can be summed up by rodri has missed a lot of key matches and is clearly a linchpin for the squad, KDB has been out the whole season so far and he is one of the best players in the world, and lacking gundo this season has given even less depth in the center midfield. given the style of play Pep has them playing, they need to control the midfield. Lacking that core impacts the output from the forwards and wingers, and the fullbacks aren't able to cover for the lack of midfield presence.
And yet they're only a couple results off of first place in a very competitive race for the title this season.
First and foremost I hate Man city with a fiery passion. That being said, I think they’re having a treble hangover coupled with missing Mahrez and Gundogan who had goals in them. They didn’t replace either of these two guys. They might increase their xG with KDB’s return soon but they’re also still leaking goals like crazy.
Gundogan and KDB are gone, but Silva and Rodri are as good players as Gundogan.
I like kovacic but he's not filled in as well as i expected
Sorry city can’t complain when they have back up for Rodri with players who have been playing in the league for years. Their squad is still much better than most PL teams if not all. Pep just refused to play them.
I have zero love for City. Broken FFP rules. Stupidly expensive team. Very unlikeable players like Grealish and Rodri. Pep's visionary thinking has let him down. The team he put out against Real in the semi-finals last year cost an average of 60 million per player. So cry me a river that things are not looking as peachy as they did last year. And it's not all down to losing KDB. When you have a squad that expensive you can put someone else in. Other teams just got better and be brave and know how to press and push City.
nahhhh other teams are not really that great tbh
Haaland's presence made opponent team can predict what man city can do he barely aggresive without the ball, also de bruyne out of injury rodri can't even fill his position
they re missing gundogan..his drive from midfield
pep was pleading walker not to go to bayern and just let gundo walk. that bald man's obsession with defenders needs to be studied
I’m a.. high volume passer.. a box crasher.. oh!
Sounds like a Jonny cash song.
Mate, you did the exact video last year prior to their treble 😂. But it wouldn't be the case this year, surely....
They're not going to break the premier league title record
Just ask more money from the Sheikh and sign more players to replace the players who aren't good enough, if FFP is the issue some loopholes can surely be found to circumvent it.
Is John wearing an AS Roma jumper?
Defence has let down Big
Walker doesn't offer that much versatility other gaves.
He is the most weak link you cannot deny. Especially in Attack.
No Kevin, no party 😢
I think this is the end of Manchester City’s dominance in the league. Pep will never win back-to-back leagues again and this has nothing to do with Pep’s skills as a manager. He still is as good, but it has to do with Manchester City not being able to spend their way out of this problem. As Tifo said, this is an issue with the personnel and Manchester City can’t do what they did when Pep came in. He bought Claudio Bravo and the next season they should have another goalkeeper and two full-backs for a lot of money. Manchester City can’t do that anymore with the 115 charges behind their back that Pep faces. He is a cheque book manager who spends his way out of trouble. This city team requires surgery. It kind of reminds me of Liverpool’s transition last season where they needed new midfielders and they bought them this season. The difference between Klopp and Pep is Klopp can make very ordinary players into world-class players. Pep prefers buying the finished product like Haaland etc.
What happened to johns thumb? It looks a bit sore, is he ok? does he need anything from the shop?
Rodri was missed many games.
City are coming to the end of their cycle, Pep hasn’t done a great job with the rebuild. Couple that with the other teams in the league upping their level. The gap is finally closing…
We talk of Liverpool being in transition. Why is nobody saying that City are in transition?