Manchester City still have the same problem under Guardiola as last season
Manchester City scored an impressive 2-1 win in the Manchester derby but the Citizens still have the same problem under Pep Guardiola that they had under Manuel Pellegrini.
Manchester City already look a totally different team under Pep Guardiola this season. They press for possession with intensity now. They keep possession better. Create more chances. They even look solid at the back. So what’s the problem?
They don’t finish games – that’s the problem. The story of every City game so far this season is basically the same story. City dominate, look great, but don’t kill off their opponents, and then the second half becomes tense.
If City scored the goals to match their performances they would be netting three and four goals every single games. Some five or six. Even with, arguably, the best out-and-out striker in the world, Sergio Aguero, up front, City still fail to reap the rewards for their play.
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This is something that happened last season under Manuel Pellegrini, not just under Guardiola this term. Pellegrini would often bemoan after a win, loss or draw how the team could have been out of sight by half time. And he was right.
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Now it’s just the same story, except it’s even more of a problem, really, because City are playing so much better overall. You can play like the Harlem Globetrotters but if you don’t score then you run the risk of wasting your good play.
Perhaps the Manchester City forwards feel like another chance is just around the corner, so they don’t feel pressured to take chances clinically? Maybe they get careless. It came back to haunt the Citizens a number of times in recent seasons and it will do so again this year if it continues.
It almost did against Sunderland on the opening day of the Premier League. The game against Stoke City had some nervy moments, too. Whilst West Ham was the biggest example of all. Guardiola’s men could have been at least three or four up come half time.
In the end, City won 3-1, but the 2-1 lead was a nervous one until Raheem Sterling put the game to bed in injury time. The Manchester derby against United followed the same pattern. Is it a problem that will iron itself out as the season goes on under a new manager? Four and five goal wins becoming more common?
Or is this just a flaw in this squad? Despite City getting away with it so far, it’s a dangerous game to play. Especially over the course of an entire season. Guardiola will be fairly happy with everything else he’s seen in the campaign.
Everything but that clinical finishing. That ruthlessness. For City to take the next step, it has to improve.
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