By Samuel A. November 24, 2024
Manchester City’s misery got piled upon on Saturday evening at the Etihad, as Spurs put four past them at their yard to take their winless run to five in a row. Rodri, who has been ruled out till the end of the season after tearing his ACL, presented his Ballon d’Or on the evening as it was City’s first home game since his victory, but he could only watch as Ange Postecoglou’s side ran riot in the area of the pitch he usually dominates, an area which has become a vacuum in his absence. The vulnerability was clear, even before City’s results began to deteriorate. Not until now, though, had it been exposed like this.
It could be seen in how James Maddison accelerated, untracked, into a gap in City’s defence to tap Kulusevski’s exquisite cross for the first goal. Five minutes later, he repeated the trick, but with a rather sweeter run to latch onto Son’s clever pass and put it past Ederson for a brace.
Tottenham’s third goal will make even more painful viewing for Pep Guardiola when he summons up the courage to watch the game back, starting, as it did, with Kulusevski outpowering City players again on the counter, and ending with Pedro Porro surrounded by nothing but grass as he slammed home his finish.
The numbers certainly support that claim, as Manchester City have conceded 17 goals in 12 games this season. Without Rodri, whose absence has become a psychological issue as well as a technical and tactical one, they are far too easy to open up, moreso, coupled with the fact that Kovacic, who is the most favoured backup, has been ruled out for 3 weeks. No Premier League side has given up more shots from fast breaks this season.
It is also a consequence of giving up higher quality chances, with Haaland being less prolific than usual. The Norwegian, despite scoring 50 percent of City’s goals this season, compared to 30 percent over the past the two seasons, has had some moreoff days this season, and the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Manchester City remain second-highest scorers in the Premier League this season, and are still second in the league, despite the rough run of form. Josko Gvardiol and Kovacic are the joint second highest goalscorers with only three each. City’s supporting forwards have provided a reliable stream of goals in previous seasons. but this time around, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Savinho and Jack Grealish have only one between them. It is not sustainable, especially not with the 33 year old Kevin De Bruyne’s fitness levels fading and Julian Alvarez long departed. And yet, even their issues with goalscoring come back, at least partly, to the absence of Rodri. He would not have won the Ballon d’Or simply for giving City defensive balance. This is a player who scored twelve goals last term, eight of which came in the Premier League. He has been missed offensively, as well as defensively.
Manchester City will doubtlessly turn to the transfer market to find a solution in January, but there are still seven Premier League games to get through before the window even opens, starting with a trip to Anfield to face leaders Liverpool next Sunday.
