Why Manchester City can, and will, bounce back

The media is painting Manchester City’s last five games without a win as a crisis, but anyone with eyes can see that Pep Guardiola’s side aren’t far away from putting it all together.

If there’s one thing all sports have in common it’s the propensity for fans and pundits alike to engage in some wildly exaggerated speculation at the expense of its best clubs and/or players. And of course, football is far from immune.

Such-and-such a player not named Lionel Messi is as good as or better than Lionel Messi. The Bundesliga is a one-horse race so Bayern Munich winning it isn’t an accomplishment. Manchester City are in meltdown.

You’ve probably heard most of those, and many before, in the past. The last one, however, is fairly recent and started within the last few months or so, though one suspects several drafts were saved for a time prior saying something similar.

The narrative has been weaved this last few weeks by the media, i.e. that Pep Guardiola’s City are in free fall. Many creative ideas have been provided for this Sergio Aguero is unhappy at the club he just signed a contract extension for, Guardiola’s style isn’t suited the physical and competitive nature of the Premier League, it was some sort of bizarre negative karma for sending out hapless Joe Hart on loan, etc etc.

I honestly never paid any of these much attention before, because, surely nobody genuinely believes City have gone into disaster mode? Then, while watching the Blues struggle to get past the parked bus of Southampton on Sunday, it hit me. Sky Sports commentator Niall Quinn announced Manchester City had officially entered a “full-on crisis”. Not just any old crisis, mind.

A full-on crisis with stars getting benched to be replaced by Academy lads, the team sliding horrifically down the table and Pep venting his frustrations at the media who he blames entirely for the reversal of fortunes. And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

What a wonderful story it makes though, don’t you think? Two top teams, rivals, with two new managers, also rivals, find themselves struggling out the gate with dire performances and hemorrhaged points. It’s Pep vs Jose all over again but this time it’s who can struggle the least. The millions both teams have spent in the summer have come back empty and already the January transfer window seems an age away. All that would make a perfect read, but for the fact it’s total bunk.

Perhaps not total bunk in United’s case, but for City and Guardiola, talk of crisis is so premature it’s obscene. Still sitting top of the table, City aren’t losing, or even playing necessarily poorly, simply struggling to fully finish the job they are just-now adapting to. Therein lies the key to an all-but-certain revival of fortunes at the Etihad that should give trigger happy pundits pause for thought.

City haven’t played badly, not in any of their recent results. 5 games without a win may equal Pep’s longest stretch without three points, but he seems totally unconcerned and Citizens should feel the same. Even a 4-0 thrashing by Barcelona had much to be cautiously optimistic about.

The Blues were the better side until going a man down and each one of Barcelona’s goals didn’t just have a whiff of ill-luck, but out-right gift wrapping by City. Fernandinho slips in the box? Goal. Ilkay Gundogan passes to Luis Suarez instead of a defender? Goal. What do you expect?

The same thing happened at Southampton. A poor pass from John Stones just outside the box doesn’t reach the keeper but finds Nathan Redmond instead? At this level, such mistakes simply don’t go unpunished and they didn’t. The same thing could well keep happening, but that neither means City are in crisis nor that they are in danger of not recovering to the position of domination they teased early in the campaign.

United may be looking poor in their poor results, but City have dominated possession and had more than enough opportunities to put the game to bed in each. The lack of clinical finishing may be a concern, but I fully expect that to sort itself out. Aguero won’t be dry for long, he never is, and already Pep can look forward to having Brazilian phenom Gabriel Jesus at his disposal alongside Kelechi Iheanacho in the new year. The goals will come and, when they do, the points will come with them.

As for Manchester City’s defensive woes, howlers included, either those will disappear or the defenders themselves will be making them less from the bench. As we’ve discussed before, Guardiola doesn’t need natural defenders for his style to function and, in many cases, prefers the flexibility of natural midfielders in the role. Indeed, for two games on the trot he’s played only three at the back and it’s difficult to suggest they were weakened in the department, perhaps the opposite.

Either which way, things seem to perennially be on the cusp of falling into place for City where Pep’s style just clicks. Teething problems always were to be expected, was more surprising that they didn’t seem to be there at first. Manchester City, of all teams, deserve more patience and less of a rush to declare lost points as a crisis. Despite it all they are still up there and I have no doubt they will be up there by the end of the year. Bet on it.

• Published on 10/25/2016 at 2:10 PM EST
• Last updated on 10/25/2016 at 2:10 PM EST