What has happened to Manchester City: Can Pep’s team still win the Premier League.

Author: Liam Lacey, Last Updated: 19 Nov 2024

Manchester City created history during the 2023/24 Premier League season when they won their fourth consecutive title surpassing the achievements of Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United teams in the process. That is why it has come as a surprise to many that the form they have shown so far during the 2024/25 campaign is anything but the form of a side seeking to win the Premier League for the fifth season in succession. There may be some reasons for the relatively poor form of the previously all-conquering City side, and below we will take a look at some of them.

The Loss of Rodri

Perhaps the biggest factor in why City have appeared vulnerable so far this season is the loss of their talismanic central midfielder Rodri. The Ballon d’Or winner who has become the lynchpin of the City side since his arrival in 2019 injured his knee in his side’s 2-2 draw with title rivals Arsenal back in September, and since then City have found it difficult to replace the Euro 2024 winner in their team.

Despite possessing a squad packed with international talent, replacing Rodri has been an almost impossible task for Guardiola. Despite being one of the greatest tactical innovators football has seen, the former La Liga and Bundesliga winner with Barcelona and Bayern Munich has up to now struggled to find a way to compensate for the loss of the best midfield player in world football.

Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan and Rico Lewis have all been played as the midfield anchor this season, but unlike in recent campaigns City have been very easy to play against thus far in 2024/25. This is backed up in the stats for this season, which show City running less and pressuring their opponents less than in previous seasons. In 2024/25 City are pressuring the opposition 143.5 times per 90 minutes compared to 157.7 pressures per 90 minutes in the 2023/24 season. This could be tiredness or fatigue, but it could also highlight another example of where Rodri is such a leader for the team, and sets such an exemplary standard for the rest of his teammates when it comes to the defensive side of the game.

Are Some of the City Players Finally losing their Hunger

It is remarkable what this City squad have achieved over the last few years, winning everything there is to be won in club football, but take a look at their squad and some of the major players in it aside from Rodri, such as Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and John Stones are now either thirty years old or above.

We may just be seeing a natural decline in players as they age, but it might just hint at a group of players who have lost a little bit of hunger finally, after being so successful for so many years. It must be difficult to keep going again and again for some players, especially now with the amount of games that top level players are being asked to play by the authorities. It would only be natural if there was a drop off in performance, and perhaps this is the season when we see City’s performance drop a little bit before the squad is re-energised or replenished.

Can City Still have a Successful Season?

Of course, it would be extremely foolish of anyone to write this City team off when it comes to predicting the winners of all of the major prizes this season. It might be worth remembering that four years ago City had only five wins from their opening 12 premier League games and were five points off the top of the table as they are now, but went on to win the League that season, winning 15 matches in a row along the way. Guardiola also led his City side to the 2018/19 title, winning 14 Consecutive games in the run-in to pip Liverpool by a point.

This City side are capable of mesmerising things under Pep Guardiola, and if they could get Kevin De Bruyne back fit on a regular basis it may help alleviate some of the issues that Rodri’s absence is highlighting. They are probably the only side of the title contenders that we wouldn’t be surprised by if they did indeed go on a sparkling run of winning games into the new year, but with Liverpool setting an impressive standard under Arne Slot and Arsenal looking to finally make their breakthrough, it might just take something like that for City to stay in contention.

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