Arsenal vs Man City: Pep Guardiola's problems mount as yet another judgement day looms at the Emirates on Super Sunday
How does Pep Guardiola combat Arsenal this weekend after only papering over problems in the crucial midweek win against Club Brugge? Watch Arsenal vs Man City live on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm on Sunday; kick-off 4.30pm
Sunday 2 February 2025 16:24, UK
"We are an old team. We don't have replacements and they play a lot of minutes, that's a reality." Pep Guardiola's frank admission on Wednesday night was nothing we have not heard before. But, somehow, the tone with which it was delivered was different. Almost defeatist.
In the same press conference Guardiola accepted his ailing side cannot win the Champions League, nor can they compete with the best teams in the Premier League, which according to him include Liverpool, Arsenal and... Brighton. "They are miles better than us. We have one thousand problems," he said.
A glance at the Premier League will tell you that Brighton are, as it stands, of little threat to Man City's fourth-place standing but the sentiment is nonetheless relevant. Guardiola's side cannot cope with teams who have mastered the transitional game. They simply don't have the legs.
39.6 per cent of the minutes played by Man City players in the Premier League this season have been given to those aged 30 or older. What hope, then, do they have against Arsenal this weekend, live on Super Sunday?
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In truth, Guardiola's midweek reflections - after another gruelling display that teetered on the edge of European elimination - were somewhat confused. He called his team old and tired but still special. He said City cannot win the Champions League now but in two weeks "who knows?"
They have since been drawn against Real Madrid in a blockbuster Champions League play-off.
And now we're stuck on the forever fluctuating spectrum of City's delicate axis. Are they back on track? Have they turned a corner? Is this the start of a thrilling comeback trail?
All of those questions will be stress-tested at the Emirates on Sunday as Arsenal look to attack City's greatest weaknesses in the hope of aiding their own bid to catch Liverpool at the top of the Premier League. And Mikel Arteta will have done his homework.
So many familiar issues resurfaced against Club Brugge as City made 399 successful passes but failed to record a single shot on target in the first half. Their build-up play was slow and predictable, much like the make-up of their midfield, and Brugge were afforded the space to counter-punch on several occasions. City conceded the first goal to another fast break.
Erling Haaland had the least touches (25) of any outfield player to play 90 minutes and registered only one shot. Ilkay Gundogan was actually City's most accurate passer of the ball but couldn't cope when possession turned over. And the same can be said of Mateo Kovacic.
Despite scoring the equaliser, Kovacic did little else to convince he is the profile of player to fill the lone Rodri role - aging legs do not suit a holding midfielder in the modern game.
Then there's problems at the back. Man City have used eight centre-back pairings in 23 Premier League games this season - Manuel Akanji has had four different partners. Ruben Dias has been the biggest loss, missing nine of their last 14 matches. City concede more and win less when Dias is absent.
This laboured, defensively-fragile version of City has of course been curiously frequent this season. And yet measures to address missing parts in the January transfer window have ignored the obvious imbalance.
Alarm bells have been loud enough to sanction £130m on three new arrivals this month - Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis - none of whom play in midfield. Has Guardiola's love for playmakers been lost? What's happened to original Pep-ball?
City's lack of midfield options able or intelligent enough to play Pep's style has surely been the club's biggest recruitment failure of recent years - none of Kalvin Phillips, Matheus Nunes, Kovacic or the returning Gundogan, at 34, fit the brief.
But muddling through by different means has to be the immediate plan because it's far from Guardiola's obsessive nature to admit defeat, even if ill-prepared Nunes is the emergency replacement for Kyle Walker - who has left for AC Milan - at right-back.
Perhaps now it's about short-term pain for long-term gain. While performances have been largely fraught and flawed, Guardiola will point to the fact that City have won four of five Premier League games since December 29 - and amassed the most points (13) while scoring the most goals (17) of any side in that period.
Champions don't forget easy and the genius of Guardiola usually proffers a back-up plan.
The latest ploy has seen City go longer and more direct in order to bypass the middle third of the pitch, where they suffer most. Goalkeeper Ederson assisted Haaland for City's second goal in the win over Chelsea last weekend, a tactical shift that has happened more often to combat a high press. Of City's passes after half time, 13.3 per cent went long compared to five per cent in the first period.
More broadly, Ederson has completed 31 passes to Haaland this season, bypassing 6.9 defenders on average when finding the striker. Simple but effective.
Guardiola would be wise to surround Haaland with pace and dynamism against Arsenal. Savinho came on to change the game against Brugge in the week, while Marmoush was a direct and willing runner against Chelsea. He also recorded the second-highest top speed of any player on the pitch, with the energy of Josko Gvardiol as the perfect sidekick down the left.
Yes, Man City have problems.
Their midfield vacuum has been gapingly obvious since the loss of Rodri against Arsenal back in September.
But this is also a team with redemptive qualities, led by an erudite manager, who now needs to show that his side's up-and-down campaign is by no means finished yet.
Watch Arsenal vs Man City live on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm on Sunday; kick-off 4.30pm. Stream with NOW.
