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Manchester City’s Latest Defeat Shows A Contender’s Frailties

Just two weeks ago it appeared that Manchester City was going to walk to a Premier League title and their form was so dominant that perhaps they could actually challenge in the Champions League. With a squad at full strength, City looked capable of running up the score on any team and given the early season struggles of contenders Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea the path to a title was clear.

Then those two weeks happened and when players are asked to push to play full speed before they are fully rested, looking at you midweek Champions League fixtures, injuries are to be expected. In a Premier League that managers are terrified of playing their second team options, they are often forced into those selections because of injuries. The way most rosters are constructed, as is the way all over the world, Premier League clubs can’t compete with reserves. Most of the money is spent on the top end players, for City your Kompany, Aguero, Silva, etc.

With Kompany ruled out through injury, although he was initially listed as a substitute before calling it a day in warm-ups, City were down to their second and third choice center backs. The issue is further compounded by manager Manuel Pellegrini’s mistrust in Mangala without the direction of pairing with Kompany. To be fair, that is a reasonable assessment made by Pellegrini as Mangala’s play can be described as erratic without a cool guiding hand directing him. Down to their third and fourth center backs, City was routinely cut open against Tottenham this past weekend. Summer signing Nicolas Otamendi clearly isn’t up to speed with his new club and league to be put into such a difficult position and Martin DeMichelis has lost more than just a step.

Had Kompany been the only exclusion from the squad this past weekend, City may have been capable of compensating by dropping Yaya Toure deeper with Fernandinho providing a shield for the defense. Well without Silva, Pellegrini elected to move Toure up into a more advanced position to generate attack. This forced a Fernandinho/Fernando pairing in central midfield and while they performed well in the first half, they weren’t up to the task of tracking defensively allowing runs to be made by Tottenham’s attacking midfield Son Heung-Min.

Finally, the loss of Joe Hart was critical in the outcome for City. While replacement goalkeeper Caballero couldn’t be directly blamed for any of the four goals City conceded, it is reasonable to believe that Hart would have had more success organizing the defense. The two set piece goals came in a manner that Hart would have dealt with better and Tottenham’s final goal left Caballero flailing on the ground like Tim Howard against Mexico.

All of this to say every Premier League club is just one injury from suffering a prolonged run of poor results. Take a look at Chelsea for example, they don’t have an injury but with John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic looking like slow old men, a once formidable defensive unit has crumbled. Will City return to their world-beating form when Silva and Kompany return to the lineup? I would bet money on it, but will they have dropped enough points to allow for a tighter title race and can they win a tough Champions League group? The past two years in the Champions League, City have placed second in their group forcing a difficult tie against Barcelona in the first knockout round. They have their sights set on a first-place group finish, but without their top players, City can’t realistically finish first.

This is the problem the Premier League presents, attention to the Champions League is a must while a club’s top player’s can’t rest for league matches. It is a fascinating balance act that becomes all the more interesting when players aren’t fully fit.

Author: John Harbeck

Writer for TRS if you enjoyed my article give me a follow at @JHarbeck5.

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