Manchester City’s malaise leaves the English champions in the unusual position of worrying about qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage before a difficult away match against Italian giants Juventus. City have won just once in their last nine games in all competitions, with an injury crisis and a loss of form for some of their biggest stars leading to the worst run of Pep Guardiola’s coaching career. Despite a humiliating 4-1 loss against Sporting Lisbon and an embarrassing 3-0 to 3-3 collapse against Feyenoord, they are still able to qualify from the new group stage format.
They are in 17th place in the 36-team league, with a top 24 finish sufficient to secure a place in at least the playoff round. However, their chances of direct access to the round of 16 by finishing in the top eight look slim, with another tough trip to Paris Saint-Germain coming in January before a home game against Club Brugge.
The Champions League is even more significant for City this season, with their Premier League title defence seemingly in tatters. After an unprecedented four consecutive English top flight titles, the champions, in fourth place, are eight points behind Liverpool and Arne Slot’s men also have one more game to play.
City have often achieved top form in the home straight to win the league during Guardiola’s six titles in the last seven seasons. This time the atmosphere around the Etihad is different, with injuries in an ageing squad taking a heavy toll.
‘The season starts in a difficult way, it will be difficult all season,’ Guardiola said after his team’s latest stumble in the 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday. ‘We have to survive the season, every game, try to get points, try to win games and move on.’ City team ‘not good enough’
Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is the biggest miss and is unlikely to return again this season after suffering an ACL injury in September.
John Stones, Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb are also out for the trip to Turin, while Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden are among the big names who have missed significant parts of the season so far.
‘If the squad is so short, it is always so difficult for all the players to play three days after three days,’ said midfielder Bernardo Silva.
‘With a squad of 20 players, if you only have 13 available, it’s not enough.’ City have little time to lick their wounds, with 12 games in 50 days between the clash with Juventus and the end of the league phase on 29 January.
‘The doctors and physios are working unbelievably hard this season like never before, but the reality is that we have few players to rotate in this period,’ Guardiola said. ‘This season will be like that.
‘Don’t be sorry, accept the challenge and maybe in the end we will have more satisfaction with the way we performed than in other seasons when we won titles.’
The hope for City is that they can still be a Champions League contender if their medical room empties and they regain their usual form when the decisive moment of the season arrives in the spring.
A single win in their last three games will almost certainly guarantee qualification. All three of their opponents to come are below them in the standings, with Juventus themselves on a four-game winless streak and trailing in sixth place in Serie A.
City need only look back two years for inspiration. Defeats against Brentford, Southampton, Manchester United and Tottenham in the winter months of the 2022/23 campaign made Guardiola wonder if the hunger had passed from his team after bingeing on trophies for so long.
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