The comeback suffered against PSG – they led 0-2 in the 55th minute and ended up losing 4-2 – has resurrected the ‘ghosts’ of a Manchester City that, not long ago, had recorded only one victory in 13 games.
It wasn’t just any defeat. For the first time, in the last 115 games, City lost a match that they dominated by more or more goals. It is an inertia that, however, has been repeating itself this season: there are already nine games in which they have taken the lead… and have not managed to win.
PSG rises from 0-2 and signs a comeback that leaves City on the brink of the abyss
More unusual, if possible, is the issue of possession. They lost it, and by a landslide, against PSG. City only had the ball 36.9% of the game. It is, according to ‘Opta’, the second worst data in the Champions League for a Guardiola team. The worst was recorded against Barcelona, also coached by his friend Luis Enrique, in 2016-17: 34.7%.
“They have been better than us with and without the ball. We have to accept it. It is impossible to play well if we don’t have the ball,” acknowledged Pep Guardiola, who also contributed another of the keys that is taking its toll on City this season: ” “PSG has a physique that we don’t have right now.”
They have been better than us with and without the ball. You have to accept it
Pep Guardiola
The defeat against PSG leaves City in a complicated situation: they are 25th with 8 points in 7 games. Right now, he’s out of the playoffs. The good news is that it depends on yourself. They host Bruges on the last matchday and, according to ‘Opta’, they have a 63.8% chance of playing in the playoffs.
For great evils, great remedies must have been thought of at the Etihad. Guardiola’s men, who had preferred to go unnoticed in the summer market – Gündogan arrived free and Savinho from the City Group – before the announcement of the Premier’s sanction for failing to comply with 130 charges of financial fair play, have once again used ‘petrodollars’ ‘ against the crisis.
The attacker lands in Manchester from Eintracht Frankfurt
In the absence of clarifying how much Valladolid pays for Juma Bah, they have spent 152 million euros in the winter market. More than anyone. A lot more. PSG follows with 70. They have paid, without counting bonuses, 37 million to Palmeiras for Vitor Reis, 40 to Lens for Abdukodir Khusanov and 75 to Eintracht Frankfurt for Omar Marmoush.
None will be able to play in the ‘final’ against Bruges. They will have to wait for the playoffs, if City qualifies, to be registered. However, they will be able to reinforce Guardiola’s men in the ‘January slope’ – almost February – that is ahead of them in the Premier League.
The Spanish coach spoke about the bad moment that the team is experiencing in the run-up to the game against Leicester
City, fifth in the League with 38 points, 12 points behind Liverpool, awaits the rest of the members of the ‘top six’, plus Tottenham, in the next six league games. Awaiting them, in this order, are Chelsea (4th, 40 points), Arsenal (2nd, 44 points), Newcastle (6th, 38 points), Liverpool (1st, 50 points), Tottenham (15th, 24 points) and the surprising Nottingham Forest (3rd, 44 points).
An ‘Everest’ that is difficult to climb for a team that has won everything, but, inexplicably, seems to have lost faith in itself and lives in a permanent crisis. “In the second half they were besieged. It seemed like men against boys. They were lucky to have only conceded four goals. It could have been worse,” said Jamie Carragher. Guardiola has work ahead of him, of course, with ‘petrodollars’ involved, crises are more salvageable.
