You might be asking yourself, “What could possibly stop them?” when you look at Manchester City, the treble winners who are top of the table and the only team with a perfect record as they attempt to win their fourth consecutive Premier League championship.
Man City might be the solution.
This is because many City supporters are concerned that the squad is weaker as a result of the arrival and departure of players during the transfer window.
There are many points and opposing arguments in this lively discussion.
Joao Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte, Cole Palmer, Ilkay Gundogan, and Riyad Mahrez were among the five players City released from Pep Guardiola’s team at this time last year, and they were replaced by Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, and Jeremy Doku.
The summer transfer window for Manchester City is now open.
City has had one of the smallest squads in the league for years, so losing an additional player leaves them sailing pretty close to the wind.
Juanma Lillo, Guardiola’s assistant, said on Friday, “If you know that nobody is going to get hurt, we have more than enough.”.
“We don’t know how things will turn out, so we’re unsure.”.
Guardiola himself is injured, in fact. On the field, they have been without Kevin De Bruyne for four months due to a hamstring injury, John Stones has yet to play this season, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden have been sick, and Jack Grealish has missed games with thigh injuries.
When they defeated Newcastle United, they did so without any substitutions and with essentially 12 players (the starters and Nathan Ake) that Guardiola was actually likely to use.
Newcastle United’s lineup for tonight.
Ederson, Walker (Captain), Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez, and Haaland make up the starting lineup.
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Ake, Gomez, Perrone, Bobb, Palmer, Lewis, McAteeManCity | @etihad pic at twitter .
com/hf83q9GPi0.
August 19, 2023, Manchester City (@ManCity).
So, are the defending European Champions making progress as usual or have they reversed course? Maybe the answer is a mix of both.
Quality issues.
One aspect of the argument is the distinct on-pitch abilities of the players who have come and gone.
As he can already contribute very well and promises to get much better, Gvardiol seems like a great replacement for Laporte.
Despite the fact that Gundogan essentially evolved into the ideal Guardiola midfielder, Kovacic has made a strong start to life at City and seems like a good replacement.
Given that Cancelo left in January, was never anticipated to return, and City didn’t consider finding a replacement for him, adding Nunes to the midfield gives them a different option and frees up Foden and Bernardo to play wide.
Overall, things are going well, but the short-term concern is Doku’s introduction as Mahrez’s replacement. The very inexperienced 21-year-old Belgian is expected to need at least a season to adjust to Guardiola’s demands.
Despite occasionally joining and leaving the team, the person he is replacing contributed goals and was remarkably reliable.
Given that Cancelo had already left in January, City lost three players who helped them win the treble, but they also added four new players, giving them more options and possibly strengthening their team.
Less X-factor, though: if Gundogan was on the bench, there would be a hope that he could enter the game and have a significant impact, which none of the newcomers have as of yet.
Last season, City had Foden, Mahrez, and Julian Alvarez on the bench for important Champions League matches, which felt comforting at least (even though Guardiola rarely uses substitutes anyway).
In contrast, this season, the attacking options have included Palmer (who rarely started last season), James McAtee (who has since gone back on loan to Sheffield United), Sergio Gomez (who is similar to Palmer), Oscar Bobb (an exciting but unproven 20-year-old forward), and Doku.
It is simple to understand why goal threat (and excitement) are down despite the numbers being technically higher.
Exits have been exacerbated by injuries.
While injuries have cast a spotlight on City’s small squad, it is also true that once those players recover, Guardiola’s squad list will appear much stronger and he will have much more options at his disposal.
Stones contributed to a game-plan revolution for City in the spring, and when he returns, which should be after the international break, he can play either center back or right back.
Then Kovacic (or Nunes) can move up front and Foden or Bernardo can be used on the wings rather than in the center, reducing the need for Doku.
This will allow Guardiola to return to moving Stones into midfield (as needed). It also means that Manuel Akanji, who doesn’t seem as at ease in the role as Stones does, can switch back to a more defensively oriented position.
When De Bruyne returns, and likely starts, City will return to the situation where they have Kovacic and/or Nunes, Foden and/or Bernardo, Alvarez, and Doku on the bench, along with quality and versatility.
If there aren’t many more injuries on the way…
It was time to recharge.
The fact that successful teams need to rotate their squads to stay at the top — and that is needed more than ever after winning a treble — is one of the reasons why the individual talent of the players is not the only factor in this debate.
City could have reenergized the team in a way that may have contributed more quality immediately, or at least given a greater feeling of excitement (for whatever that is worth), if they had signed different players (they initially wanted Jude Bellingham and then Declan Rice, as well as Lucas Paqueta), or even more players (they strongly considered Eberechi Eze).
However, their business decisions appear wise.
At the age of 21, Gvardiol is a long-term investment and was likely the most sought-after defender in all of football.
Despite being 29 years old, Kovacic is already making a difference and should still have two or three more seasons at the top in him.
Compared to Bellingham or Rice, Nunes is more difficult to sign, but he impressed City when he faced them 18 months ago while playing for Sporting Lisbon, and he adds fresh traits to the midfield, helping them develop their style of play.
And Doku sums it up: despite the fact that he may not have gotten off to a fast start, given his qualifications and young age (21), he seems like a good long-term investment.
This should keep everyone on their toes because all of these players will be eager to hoist the trophies that their teammates have already won.
In addition, Kyle Walker stated in a speech over the weekend that he is now determined to win medals for those new players so that they can join in the fun as well.
Guardiola actually prefers a small squad, and City decided against signing Eze in part because they knew De Bruyne would be back for the second half of the season.
Goodbye to “bad faces.”.
The fact that City has moved on players like Mahrez, Laporte, and particularly Cancelo—players who frequently complained when they were left off the team—is another aspect of the summer business that won’t be immediately apparent from looking at the team sheet.
If you are left off of Guardiola’s team, you must learn to “suck it up” and move on in accordance with his “no bad faces” rule.
With those players, it wasn’t always like that.
They all contributed significantly to City over the years, and being unhappy when they were not playing was obviously not a major hindrance to the club’s advancement.
However, Guardiola and his coaches and captains do work hard to uphold a positive, dedicated dressing room environment, and “bad faces” are considered detrimental to that.
If the new boys are willing to spend some time on the bench, the summer business should have helped with that.
Guardiola manages to do it.
Guardiola always finds a way is another crucial factor to take into account.
In 2017, they requested two left backs and a center back, but only Benjamin Mendy was available.
Then, in what was regarded as the worst-case scenario that summer, he sustained an injury, along with team lynchpin Vincent Kompany, yet they still managed to win the championship with 100 points.
Since then, there has been a demand to add a left-back, but City has never complied and has always been fine.
In order to fill Kompany’s spot after they missed out on Lionel Messi in 2020, they signed Ruben Dias, their third-choice center-back.
In 2021, when Guardiola was extremely concerned about his team’s lack of firepower, they were unsuccessful in acquiring Harry Kane.
They used a series of false nines to win the championship in both of those seasons, with Dias playing a key role at the back.
Concerns were raised when they parted ways with Cancelo, one of their two senior full-backs, in January because they feared they would lack the squad’s depth and full-back creativity without the Portugal international.
They took home the triple.
It is not always necessary to worry about these things.
Are they stronger or weaker?
The Athletic claimed that City’s erratic play midway through last season was the result of Guardiola trying to find the right recipe for success with Erling Haaland and that bringing in the Norwegian represented a step backwards (in terms of performances compared to recent years) in the hope that there would be a huge leap forward… and then they won the treble.
However, the squad has improved in other ways, positioning City well for the future, even if they are currently not quite as strong as they were last season. They still have a good chance of taking home several trophies this year.
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