This time last year, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were top of the Premier League, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference, and heading towards the denouement of a closely-fought title race that would see them win the title by a point. They would rack up 98 points that season, to go with the 100 that they had won the previous campaign, and many observers called it as the start of a dynasty in English football, akin to what Manchester United achieved under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Such predictions looked ridiculous then, and even more so now, where Liverpool are sauntering towards their first league title in 30 years, and City are a full 22 points behind them. Of course, Liverpool have amassed 73 points from a possible 75, dropping just two points and fully on course to emulate Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’. Nevertheless, City should not be struggling to overhaul Leicester City in the race for second place. They’ve dropped more points this season than they had over the past two seasons combined, and have looked extremely shaky, especially defensively. Their failure to recruit a centre-back in the summer is not Guardiola’s fault, but he is responsible for their team selection, which has created its own problems this season.
Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan do not work together in midfield; ideally, Pep needs to play just one of them. He refuses to play both Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez together, despite the former being one of his best players and the latter showing superb form this season. He has failed to get a tune out of Benjamin Mendy at left-back, and Joao Cancelo looks like a waste of a signing at right-back. With the Champions League resuming and City having to face a resurgent Real Madrid in their round-of-16 tie, a betting man might even make Los Blancos favourites. Indeed, City’s season is dependent on the cups now, putting even more pressure on Guardiola ahead of a pivotal summer window.
It’s a high-stakes game of poker for Pep and City now, with all their eggs in the Champions League basket. Perhaps he’d like to tune-up for their tie against Madrid by getting onto a poker site like Bovada; in any case, he is also going to complete four years at City this summer, which has been the longest he has been at a club. Do not be surprised if this is the end of his adventure in Manchester, with Liverpool’s dominance proving too strong and tiring to challenge. If so, Pep will want to leave with a stronger legacy, and securing the Champions League would do that for him, but on current form, City would be very lucky to get past Real Madrid.
