Pep Guardiola has led Manchester City to 500 games, and in these eight and a half seasons we have always seen him direct some citizens gamers, owners of the ball, aggressive in pressure, aware of their extensive capabilities.
So, until now.
This City today, mired in an existential crisis, looks different (compared to yesterday, it has only won two of its last fourteen games). He is timid, abandons possession, subscribes to the sudden rush and ends up having a bad time on his visit to a minor rival like Leicester, a team that has barely added four of the last 18 points, today in the relegation zone of the Premier (0- 2).
In other times, three or four months ago, City would have resolved this visit with a fabulous display of play and goals. He would have added four or five, he would never have allowed Leicester to get under his skin. However, that is not the encounter we witnessed.
Savinho celebrates his first goal as a citizen with Bernardo Silva, Foden and Håland
True, this time Savinho paved the way with a goal in the 21st minute, a rogue goal when he took advantage of a terrible rebound from Stolarczyk, Leicester’s goalkeeper (it was his first goal as citizensdoesn’t say anything good about its performance either).
But from then on, City disappeared from the scene.
Weighed down by the disconcerting form of Foden and Bernardo Silva, City were cornered for almost fifty minutes, overwhelmed by the magnificent El Khannous and Buonanotte, Leicester’s leaders. And Savinho had to reappear and deliver a perfect cross to Håland for him to score his first goal in four games, another bewildered footballer who, desperate, ventures into conducts that do not credit him or distinguish him.
City breathe, close this strange 2024 with a victory. But from there to winning the Premier, by points and by game, it’s a world away.
#City #art #suffering #defeat #relegating #Leicester
