Manchester City were thrashed by Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium to end their nearly two year long home unbeaten run and pile on the misery with a fifth consecutive defeat.
A James Maddison brace and goals from Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson subjected City to their heaviest ever defeat at the Etihad Stadium and punished the Blues for their sloppy finishing and complacent defending.
Here are three things we learned as City lost again:
Change is needed in January
City struggle to some extent every year at this stage of the season under Pep Guardiola, but never have they suffered in the way they’re doing now.
Five defeats, 14 goals conceded and just four scored symbolises a dismal month or so for the Blues, and it’s clear that this can’t continue.
Kyle Walker has been poor all season and looks to have lost a yard of pace as well as a lot of concentration and his aura of invincibility.
Manuel Akanji, John Stones and Nathan Ake aren’t fully fit, Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol are showing signs of inexperience due to fatigue and overuse and it feels like a long time since we’ve seen Bernardo Silva, Kevin de Bruyne or Ilkay Gundogan have a properly good game.
That’s ten key players - as well as the injured Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias, Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic - that are not at their best, which takes its toll on the squad and the performances on the pitch.
City will probably sign at least a new defensive midfielder in January, and it feels that a striker wouldn’t go amiss either to replace Julian Alvarez and add more goals to the squad.
Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad (who has a £51.4 million release clause in his contract) and Ederson from Atalantsa would seem to be the two main contenders to be brought in, both of whom wouldn’t demand to play every minute and could easily play alongside Rodri when he returns next season.
A striker is less likely in January but would be ideal, with the idea of triggering Liam Delap’s £20 million buy back clause from Ipswich Town an appealing option given the way he’s started this campaign with six goals in 12 games, particularly if the Tractor Boys end up getting relegated.
The Blues should never be written off; as good as Liverpool have been so far this season they’re not invincible and City will be back to their best soon, particularly if they do decide to recruit in January, but either way it’s a big summer approaching for new director of football Hugo Vianna.
Pep Guardiola is the only man to take City forward
If there was any doubt as to whether City had made the right decision in renewing their manager’s contract for another two years, Guardiola’s response to the game should prove it.
The Catalan hasn’t hesitated to call City out before in the past when he feels the intensity levels aren’t right (remember his explosive press conference after the comeback victory against Spurs in 2023 that was the turning point of the Treble winning season) but he hasn’t been like this during this run.
There are deficiencies to City’s game, particularly the weak midfield, but Guardiola himself has admitted that this would be solved if he was able to play Stones or Akanji in midfield but they’re needed at centre back at this moment in time.
Feyenoord will be an opportunity for some of the players to play their way back into form before the trip to Anfield next Sunday, a game which Guardiola will already be devising a plan for.
Even if City lose to Arne Slot’s side (as I’m sure many predict they will do) it’s not an unretrievable gap, certainly not for these players and this coach.
Effort and desire couldn’t be less of an issue
As touched upon above, I have absolutely no concerns regarding the application and effort of the players on the pitch.
Plenty of the players being heavily criticised by supporters - namely Walker, Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden and Haaland - are modern day City legends and have served the club well for many years.
If Guardiola had any concerns about their attitude, they’d be straight out the door, as evidenced by João Cancelo’s isolating and even Yaya Toure’s omission during his first few months in charge.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach is a born winner and has the highest standards, and whilst he’s not happy with the results he has no complaints with the work rate of his players.
For the first goal, Josko Gvardiol was at fault for giving Dejan Kulusevski too much time, but it was still a good ball and finish from Maddison.
The Croatian was to blame again for the second goal with a miscued pass, whilst the third goal was a general purpose counter attack from Spurs where Walker dived in perhaps unnecessarily on the halfway line and City couldn’t get back quickly enough.
The fourth goal was the only one where a lack of effort could be argued, as Walker seemed to lose focus and let Timo Werner pass him way too easily, and Johnson merely outpaced Gundogan at the back post to score.
City will return to form soon, and so long as Guardiola is happy with the way his players are trying on the pitch then I can’t really complain , and certainly not about the passion and effort provided by the players.