Defeats against Spurs, Bournemouth and Sporting Lisbon threaten to derail season
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has enjoyed many good moments at the Etihad Stadium since his arrival back in 2016, but the 2024/25 campaign has seen numerous off pitch distractions when it comes to the Premier League, ongoing Financial Fair Play charges, and the more recent legal case.
It is safe to say that whilst the 53 year old has done his best to keep his focus on the pitch, it has not been easy, and matters on the pitch have also not gone as swimmingly as we are used to. In more recent weeks Guardiola has made no secret about the impact of the injury crisis that we are currently going through, and whilst he knows we simply have to deal with it, it is now severely effecting our performances and results.
Few football betting sites would have predicted that at the end of October we would take an early exit from the League Cup with defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, nor that we would open October with a very disappointing defeat to AFC Bournemouth. On Tuesday evening our Champions League aspirations took another blow, with a heavy 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP.
The Sporting pill will be harder for fans to swallow as it was Ruben Amorim's last home game before he makes his move to the other side of the City of Manchester, but whilst he had last night, City fans know he is likely to fail just like those who came before him have.
It is the first time since April 2018 that we have lost three on the spin, the second time we have lost three consecutive games in a single season, and the biggest defeat since September 2020.
The media and fans of other colours might be revelling in the result, but it was simply one of those nights as epitomised by Erling Haaland's penalty coming back off the woodwork, but such is Guardiola's squad juggling right now, less than a week after his first team debut, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey was in the heart of defence for his maiden senior start and they targeted him to full effect.
Skipper Bernardo Silva commented that the club were in a 'dark place' right now, but the gaffer dismissed that, but in accepting a defeat this size meant his words counted for little, he viewed it as a different type of challenge and he again backed himself to lift the squad for the battles that lay ahead.
Battles he was confident we would show our mettle in and get back to winning ways. Our trip to Brighton and Hove Albion is only a few short days away, but you would like to hope that we could welcome one or two faces back for that clash, one positive to take was the return of Kevin De Bruyne and he would be expected to get a longer run out at the next time of asking.