Never thought I'd see Man City demolished at home 0:4. What's going on at the Etihad?

 

Short highlights of a famous Spurs win.

 

This is a record Pep won't like having.

 

Tottenham rout Manchester City 4-0 to leave Pep Guardiola reeling | Premier League | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Tottenham thrashed Manchester City 4-0, with James Maddison scoring twice, to hand Pep Guardiola’s side a fifth straight defeat

 

Guardiola sack and Walker, Gundogan retire after Kulusevski, Spurs embarrass the champions

WWW.FOOTBALL365.COM

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Of course Spurs followed defeat to Ipswich by thrashing champions Man...

 

it might seem controversial but i think erling haaland is one of citys biggest problems. they have to do everything through him, nobody else seems to want to shoot. its like their instructed to get into a good position and then look for haaland. either they start playing as a team again, or they look to get rid of him because despite him being a good goalscorer he is not the sole answer to winning games.

@joshescott97.bsky.social on Bluesky

BSKY.APP

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San Marino with the banter ????????

 

I find it amusing how the media often act as if Manchester City losing is impossible. Of course, it is possible. I think teams are beginning to exploit their weaknesses more now. Spurs are a good team, although not always consistent. When they perform well, they can dominate any opponent.

Something is certainly amiss at City. They lost a 3:0 lead in the Champions League against Dutch side, Feyenoord, & were pegged back to 3:3, & are in danger of not qualifying for the knock out stages of the champions league.

City play at Liverpool on Sunday 1st Dec. If they lose there, Pep will be under the biggest pressure he as faced as Head Coach of City.

Could it be that there is pressure from the FA, and the owners are having second thoughts about continuing their reign? Pure speculation, but I do agree with @Robbie, something is amiss here.

Manchester City have been a dominant force in the Premier League for a while now. Those who remember the old First Division know that teams have a period when they are the best, then things change. City will likely stay a top-four team, but the gap between them and other teams might become smaller.

I remember when I was trying to get Football Manics off the ground, a lot of football fans were surprised by how Liverpool did against the teams who were spending silly money. Likewise, I could draw examples from Leicester City. The thing is with football, Manchester City have enjoyed being the team that can sign any player, and have a large squad but never have they really changed or adapted their play. Some people might ask why they would? But it's not enough to replace players with like for like players. In fact, a lot of players who get considered similar to another in truth are completely different.

The media are trying to suggest Kyle Walker is past it, which makes me laugh because he's still a very good player.

Their issue is they are not adapting or evolving their playing style, and to a point I agree they are too reliant on Erling Haaland to change their fortunes. I have seen games where they had plenty of options to have a shot, but made it a lot more difficult by giving Haaland the ball.

Manchester City aren't undefeatable. They are a great league team, but even with all their spending, they struggle in Europe and that's their true measure. I think a lot of English clubs are figuring them out and have game plans that allow them to be more expressive and restrict what City can do. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more going on behind the scenes, but I haven't heard anything. Not even rumours, which I would imagine there would be.

Losing five games on the trot and then following it up by blowing a 3-0 lead at home is pretty extraordinary, especially when you consider that City have wiped the floor with the Premier League for the last five years or so. Against Spurs they were lacklustre and second best in every department. I don't mind it at all as it's about time we saw another name on the trophy, but you do wonder if there's been a bust-up behind the scenes.

A note of caution though: they remind me a lot of Bayern in Germany. Every season, they tend to have a poor run which is seized on by the press and everybody talks about the Bayern "crisis". They then bounce back and win the league regardless because nobody can touch them. I wouldn't bet against City doing the same.

Big match for Pep today as Man City meet league leaders Liverpool at Anfield. Another defeat will put Pep under even more pressure.