Manager Josep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City are facing a major midfield crisis for the second season in a row. Without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri for the majority of last season, the Spaniard is still battling fitness issues along with the absence of Mateo Kovacic and the champions have found themselves over-reliant on Nico Gonzalez. Gonzalez was the only player to start City’s last three games, with most of the in-form squad rested following last week’s Champions League loss to Leverkusen.
It was little surprise that he was sent off with less than 30 minutes remaining, with City leading 5-2 against Fulham. However, without him, the midfield collapsed and Fulham pushed forward, causing the team to fall back, which only encouraged the home side to push further. City were forced to clear the goal line by Josko Gvardiol in stoppage time, but ultimately held on. Guardiola will have to reconsider his options knowing Gonzalez will not be available for every game as City chase silver with their front four.
“We have problems. We have three holding midfielders and two injured players who are out for a long period of time. Rodri will be back soon, but Koba will come later,” he said. “We don’t have anyone, but today we proved it. We have to think about it.
“Maybe Nico O’Reilly can play there, Rayan Eyt-Nouri or Nathan can play at left-back. Tijani (Lejnders) can play, but he’s more of an attacking position player. His position is where he scores goals and he can’t be stopped in the pocket. We have to find something.”
Despite their defensive vulnerabilities, City narrowed the gap to Arsenal to just two points in the Premier League summit clash, with the Gunners looking uneasily over their shoulder. Scoring six goals in two games is not the secret to title success, but the Blues have continued to rack up points despite being well below their peak, and we expect them to improve significantly going forward.
Guardiola, the Premier League’s longest-serving manager, understands the different routes to silver medals, even if he has significantly rebuilt his squad. Arsenal remain the clear favorites to win the title, but they still have quite a bit of ground to cover this season.
“Arsenal have to play tomorrow. They are very strong and solid,” he said. “We have to be prepared that it’s going to be difficult, but at the same time the Premier League is very long. I’m the oldest manager in the Premier League and I have enough experience to go on a long run to keep fighting to win the Premier League. It’s very long.
“Chelsea are getting more and more impressed every day with Enzo[Maresca]. It’s been a long time. A lot will happen. We won six Premier League games and when we were losing in January or February we won four or five. Teams that win the Premier League are teams that develop over the next few months and this is what we are trying to do.”
“If we push, we’ll be better, we’ll be able to push ourselves and control the situation better. We’ll see what happens against Sunderland. I watched against Fulham and, oh my god, I understand why Sunderland are in the position they’re in.”
“They’re really good and they’re at the top. But we’re in a better position than last year because of the problems we had and a lot of good things happened. We’re a little bit closer and we keep going.”
