How to fix Man City: Six problems Pep Guardiola needs to solve after losing four matches in a row

“I would like to have the international break every two weeks, I love it,” said Pep Guardiola last month. “I go to rest and then my energy is back.” The Manchester City boss, then, will appreciate this pause in the season more than ever, as it comes amid his worst run of results in 17 years of coaching.

Saturday’s dramatic defeat by Brighton racked up a fourth defeat in a row in all competitions for the Premier League champions, just one shy of the total amount of games they lost for the entirety of the last campaign. It is bound to lead to a lot of soul searching from the manager, who prides himself on always being in control.

City have looked utterly devoid of control in recent weeks, conceding 10 goals in the losses at Tottenham, Bournemouth, Sporting CP and Brighton. The run has left them out of the Carabao Cup, put them five points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool, and ended a run of 30 games without defeat (not including on penalties) in the Champions League.

Guardiola has also been left with an even longer injury list than before, which now includes Jeremy Doku in addition to most of the defenders in his squad. “I think everybody needs it [the break]. I think in our heads, it will be good for all of us,” said the City boss.

Guardiola probably did not envisage that he would be spending his two weeks away trying to understand what had gone wrong for his all-conquering team, so GOAL has done him a favour and come up with six problems the coach needs to fix so City can snap out of this negative spiral…

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  Take back control in midfield

  It is no secret that City are not the same team without Rodri, and their reliance upon him was laid bare last season when they lost all four games he was suspended for. The impact of his season-ending injury against Arsenal was not felt immediately as City won six of their first seven games, but, sure enough, his absence is now weighing heavily on the team.

  Since the start of last season, City have a win percentage of 73.6% with Rodri, which drops to 58.3% without him. “There was no way City lose those four games if Rodri plays,” said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp after Saturday’s loss.

  City have still been able to control sections of games without the Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder, but they have been blown wide open in crucial moments. They had 73% possession against Sporting and yet conceded four goals. They were less dominant against Brighton, having 60% of the ball, and that gave the Seagulls the opportunity to probe them more and more as the game wore on.

  Even without Rodri, City still have a midfield packed with experience and talent. But they have to work more closely together, and get back to being a team renowned for controlling games with the ball.

  “When you lose the best midfielder in Europe you’re always going to have a strain on the team. But they are just too easy to play through at this moment in time,” said Micah Richards on BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’. “The most defining thing for me is not pressing any more. They’re going as individuals.”

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    Relieve the burden on Haaland

    Erling Haaland looked livid with his team-mates when they conceded the equaliser at the Amex Stadium, and he had every right to be. Lately the Norwegian has had to shoulder too much responsibility for City’s goals, even by his own ridiculously high standards.

    The striker set his latest Premier League record on Saturday by becoming the fastest player to reach 75 goals, with 12 of those strikes coming this season in just 11 games. Haaland will always be expected to lead the way for City when it comes to scoring, but none of the usual suspects are helping to lighten the load. Instead, there is an unlikely list of players on two goals or more.

    Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic are City’s second-top scorers in the league with three each, followed by John Stones on two. City’s forwards (Haaaland aside) have just two league goals in total, from Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne.

    Phil Foden has shown none of the attacking verve that saw him bag 19 goals on his way to being named Premier League Player of the Season in 2023-24, while Ilkay Gundogan has become worryingly shy in attack given how prolific he was in his two previous campaigns at the Etihad. Bernardo Silva, who came within inches of scoring against Sporting, has not made his usual mark either, while summer signing Savinho has also been hugely disappointing in front of goal, with nothing to show for all of his thrilling moments of skill.

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      Sort the defence out

      If you want an indication of how bad City’s defending has got lately, consider this: they have conceded more league goals than Manchester United. Yes, that basket case club across town, the one that City fans gloat is “falling down”, have a better defence than the four-in-a-row champions. Fixing the backline, therefore, is fundamental to fixing City’s problems, although it is a lot easier said than done.

      Guardiola is currently without his four main central defenders, which is why 19-year-old Jahmai Simpson-Pusey – who he keeps referring to as “the young lad” – has had to start the last two games despite having no previous first-team experience. Stones and Ruben Dias did not travel to Brighton, and while Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji were on the bench, Guardiola explained they were not fit enough to play. The Catalan has also pointed out that Kyle Walker has barely trained this season despite starting the right-back in the last two league games, with disastrous consequences.

      Injuries are the principal cause for City’s current defensive frailties, but another factor is that both the personnel and formation in defence keeps changing. City began the season playing a back three of Akanji, Dias and Gvardiol, with Rico Lewis shuttling between right-back and holding midfield. They kept the same shape and players for their first three games and won them all, but since then, partly due to injuries but also due to Guardiola’s preference, there has been a rotating cast of defenders, some of whom are playing various positions. Lewis has played at left-back, right-back and holding midfield. Stones has started just two games, while Ake has started once.

      And equally important has been the absence of Rodri screening the defence. “In terms of results it can be similar, the point is we don’t have the players,” Guardiola explained. “All four central defenders are injured. And Rodri, the best player, is not there. Kevin De Bruyne is away from his best. Jeremy Doku is injured. Jack Grealish is injured. You can do it for one game, but to be consistent, you cannot.”

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      Keep their cool

      The strange thing about City’s last two defeats is that they began both games so well. And had they taken just a couple more of their chances, they would have won both. They took the lead in the fourth minute in Lisbon through Foden and had 11 shots before half-time. Against Brighton, it was nine shots, five of which were on target. Being more clinical in front of goal is key to getting back on track and preventing this losing streak from getting out of control.

      Haaland was most wasteful against Sporting, failing to take any of his five opportunities including a penalty, while Bernardo missed a glorious chance to double the lead. Against Brighton, Savinho missed clear openings in each half.

      Haaland currently tops the rankings for the most wasteful players (calculated on expected goals) in the Premier League, while Bernardo is third. The Norwegian has the mental resilience to quickly bounce back after a bad game, as he did against Brighton, but his team-mates seem to be lacking confidence in front of goal, and the longer they go without scoring, the harder it gets.
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      Fight for every ball

      Last season when City beat FC Copenhagen 3-1 for the second time within three weeks to knock them out of the Champions League, visiting coach Jacob Neestrup had an amusing observation. “What I take with me after playing City in these two games is they work hard, they work f*cking hard,” he said. “Not all top teams do that. It’s not just the football brain, the knowledge, the technical part – they work hard.”

      That hard work that Neestrup was so in awe of has been slacking lately, and Walker was the first to admit it after the Brighton game. “Today I feel that slight moments were not rubbing off in our favour, certain challenges we were a little bit late for, arriving to the ball a little bit late,” he said. “I think it’s a period we’re going through at the minute and the international break comes at the right time.”

      Guardiola has achieved what many successful coaches have failed to do by ensuring his side stayed hungry to win four titles in a row, but it was only a matter of time before that desire began to wane ever so slightly. And as Gundogan warned, the Premier League does not allow for any easing off.

      “This competition is tough, it feels like the majority of teams have just got better. Not just the first five, six, seven, eight teams, it feels everyone now can play really good and punish you,” said the German. “When things are going like that, there’s always talk, always things come out, people try to look for reasons. I just feel we as players have to take responsibility and look at ourselves, individually and collectively, what we can do better.”

      The only way to recover from this slump is to recover that desire, the urge to win every 50/50 challenge, every header. Walker added: “This is the time where I want to see the players. This is the time where real characters come through. It’s all good for the last eight years where we’ve been winning everything and dominating games and you’ve got a cigar out when you’re playing, but now it’s tough. This is the time where us as players, us as senior members, have to pull the inexperienced ones or the ones that haven’t been at the club for a while and show them the foundations of this club because we built that over the last eight years and this will get us through this patch.”

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      Find an Alvarez replacement

      City made one of their best deals ever when they sold Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for £82m ($106m), earning a profit of £68m ($87m) for a squad player, albeit a very good one. The mistake they made, though, was to leave the money in the bank rather than re-invest it in the team. Savinho and Gundogan were the only new arrivals in the summer and neither of them can do what Alvarez did.

      The Argentine could always be relied upon to perform when called upon, no matter how often that was. In his first season at the Etihad, he scored 14 goals from 22 starts in all competitions. He played a much bigger role in his second campaign due to De Bruyne’s absence and scored 17 times while notching 11 assists. No one aside from Haaland can come close to those numbers this season.

      No one can blame City for selling Alvarez for the price Atletico were willing to pay, and the general feeling among supporters was that it was an excellent deal for the club. But not replacing him now looks to be a big mistake. And it will prove even costlier if Haaland succumbs to the injury malaise that has befallen so many of his team-mates.

      City do have a ready-made Alvarez replacement waiting in the wings in Claudio Echeverri, who has also come through the River Plate academy and is set to move across the Atlantic Ocean to Manchester in January, just after his 19th birthday. Echeverri plays a little deeper than Alvarez, though. and is far less prolific, having scored just four goals in 39 appearances this year. And there is no guarantee he will adapt to a new team and style of football quickly.

      If City want to maximise their chances of clinging on to their title or going all the way in the Champions League, therefore, they will have to find that envelope containing the Alvarez money and spend it on a proven goal-scorer who can plug the various gaps in their attack.