Manchester City are in trouble. After almost a decade of dominating soccer in England and recently extending that supremacy in Europe, this season they are not finding their way and their future is under threat. This Wednesday Pep Guardiola‘s team suffered another defeat in the UEFA Champions League, 2-0 against Juventus in Italy, which left them in a precarious position in the opening phase of the tournament. That prompted harsh criticism from a Premier League legend.
“We just have not seen a Pep Guardiola side in general ever be this bad,” Rio Ferdinand claimed after the game, on TNT Sports. “He has to find a way of galvanising this team and reinstalling some form and confidence,” he added, making it clear that the situation will soon be critical for Manchester City if things don’t change now. “They are under real pressure now.”
Ferdinand has plenty of experience to analyse this. He shone for 12 years in the Premier League as leader of Manchester United, the Citizens’ historic rivals, winning six league titles, a UEFA Champions League and a Club World Cup with the Red Devils under Sir Alex Ferguson’s guidance.
Despite acknowledging Pep Guardiola’s difficult time with his team, Rio noted there is still hope for them. “I think we are still going to be surprised given what they have done in recent years,” explained the former England defender. “They have been a formidable team, they won four Premier Leagues on the bounce, they have a history of being very successful.”
Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City talks with TNT Sports presenters Lynsey Higgrave and Rio Ferdinand during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London.
Manchester City’s challenges
With two wins, two draws and two defeats in six games, Manchester City are in a difficult position in the opening stage of the UEFA Champions League. They occupy 22nd place in the standings with 8 points and are in the playoff qualification zone. But the Citizens are just one point ahead of Paris Saint-Germain and Stuttgart, who are currently outside of that zone. With two games to go, Pep Guardiola’s side have no margin for error. Another false step could leave them out of Europe’s most important tournament.
In the Premier League the situation is less critical, but nonetheless complex. Manchester City are in fourth place in the standings with 27 points, 8 points behind leaders Liverpool. But that lead could stretch to 11, considering that the Reds still have a game in hand.
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Criticism of Guardiola
The team’s disappointing performance and poor results of late are the main reason for Pep Guardiola‘s criticism, but not the only ones. The Spanish head coach has been blamed for decisions regarding certain players that now appear to have been huge mistakes.
In 2023 Cole Palmer decided to leave Manchester City because of the few opportunities Guardiola was giving him, and since then he has become one of the Premier League’s top stars playing for Chelsea. This summer something similar happened with Julian Alvarez, who asked to be transferred to Atletico Madrid to get more minutes on the pitch there, a decision that seems to have been the right one considering his 12 goals and 2 assists in 24 games for the Spanish side.
