Guardiola and Man City in shock on the eve of the game they fear most

Pep Guardiola does not like going to Anfield at the most effective of instances.

“They scare me,” the Manchester Metropolis supervisor mentioned of Liverpool and its prolific, Mohamed Salah-led strikeforce throughout a fly-on-the-wall documentary again in 2018, when Guardiola’s workforce was comfortably the best in England.

Simply think about what he’s considering now?

Amid the worst run of leads to his teaching profession, Guardiola in all probability would favor another fixture on the calendar than Liverpool away.

However that is what is going through him and his beleaguered defending champions on Sunday within the largest modern-day Premier League rivalry which, on present kind, threatens to be a mismatch.

“It is going to be as powerful as it’s doable to be,” Metropolis midfielder Ilkay Gundogan mentioned, “however that sums up the scenario proper now.”

Certainly, Liverpool and Metropolis – the league’s present high two, separated by eight factors – are trending in reverse instructions.

Liverpool not solely leads the Premier League but in addition the 36-team Champions League. It’s coming off a win over Actual Madrid, and has gained 17 of its 19 video games in all competitions this season, shedding simply as soon as.

Metropolis simply squandered a 3-0 lead from the seventy fifth minute to attract 3-3 with Feyenoord, having beforehand misplaced 5 straight video games together with 4-0 at dwelling to Tottenham. Guardiola has by no means misplaced so many in a row in his teaching profession. The workforce has conceded at the least two targets in every of these six video games and 17 in complete. Metropolis is in seventeenth place within the Champions League standings and may be out of the Premier League high 4 come Sunday evening.

Guardiola acknowledged pretty bluntly this week: “We’re not in a position to win video games now. As a workforce, we at all times discovered a solution to win video games … however proper now, nothing occurs.”

So how have issues fallen aside for Metropolis, the winner of the final 4 Premier League titles, so spectacularly?

Accidents

Metropolis is dearly lacking season-long absentee Rodri, the Ballon d’Or winner and the holding midfielder who’s so necessary in conducting their attacking play and defending the protection. Mateo Kovacic has been performing as Rodri’s substitute however returned from Croatia responsibility injured final week and missed the 4-0 loss to Tottenham, in addition to the Feyenoord sport. None of Metropolis’s 4 senior middle backs – John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake appears 100% wholesome both. All have been absent two weeks in the past and are being rushed again, probably prematurely. In the meantime, star playmaker Kevin De Bruyne hasn’t began a match for the reason that center of September as a result of a nagging groin damage.

Tactical flaws

All groups have accidents, nonetheless, and it is about the way you take care of them. Guardiola, for all his undoubted genius as a tactician, hasn’t accomplished so very effectively. He has admitted to being unwilling to vary his model and is wedded to a heavy-pressing, possession-based strategy no matter personnel he has obtainable. Different coaches may swap techniques within the circumstances, probably taking part in extra defensively and totally on the counterattack – like Carlo Ancelotti did with Actual Madrid at Metropolis within the Champions League final season. Guardiola says he cannot try this. If Metropolis tries to go toe to toe with a dynamic Liverpool on Sunday, it might go badly improper.

Recruitment

Questions must be requested about Metropolis’s switch technique and recruitment over the past two years. How can Rodri be the one out-and-out holding midfielder within the squad? Kovacic and now Gundogan are deputizing in that place however it’s not their energy. How can Erling Haaland be Metropolis’s solely real striker within the squad? Metropolis bought Julian Alvarez, basically Haaland’s backup, to Atletico Madrid within the offseason and did not change him. Do not be shocked if Haaland will get injured given how overworked he’s and can proceed to be this season. Metropolis’s latest midfield signings – Matheus Nunes, Kovacic and Gundogan – have not labored out or handled what ought to have been priorities elsewhere. Kovacic and Gundogan are of their 30s, leaving Metropolis’s midfield trying gradual, particularly off the ball, and drained. Metropolis additionally used to have goal-scoring wingers like Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez. In Jack Grealish, Savinho and Jeremy Doku, they’ve technically glorious gamers with barely any output.

Small squad

This season, of all seasons, Guardiola wanted a giant squad. Accidents are inconceivable to foretell however he knew there could be extra video games within the schedule due to an expanded Champions League format and the Membership World Cup in the USA that may prolong Metropolis’s marketing campaign probably till mid-July. Guardiola has at all times favored working with a small squad, nonetheless, to maintain as many gamers as doable concerned. That absolutely has to vary.

The fees

It is an intangible however how a lot is the upcoming verdict on the greater than 100 prices in opposition to Metropolis for alleged monetary breaches weighing on the squad? It is extensively identified that the result ought to come early in 2025, with factors deductions and even relegation a risk. Futures are on the road on the membership. Perhaps the gamers are beginning to really feel that.