Manchester City were undone by their incapability of handling a significant event when they announced Pep Guardiola’s arrival five months ahead of schedule. Since that moment, we have seen the club go through a massive dip in form for which the board needs to take responsibility for.
Since Pep’s announcement as their next manager, City have played 18 league games from which they have only won 8 while drawing and losing 5 each. By announcing Guardiola’s arrival, City weakened current manager Manuel Pellegrini’s position inside the dressing room and it showed in the way players failed to respond to the Chilean’s tactics.
In a way Pellegrini’s motivation levels also dipped down and his sole focus was to win the Champions League where he did manage to reach until the semifinals. Having said that Man City players also let the club down as they went about their job very casually.
Regardless of who the manager is in charge, when professional players put on their jersey, strap their boots and cross those white lines it is completely down to them to perform at a certain level. However, City had certain individuals who were not prepared to put in that extra yard and lacked the fire to play at Premier League level.
Injuries to Vincent Kompany and Kevin De Bruyne did not help their cause either but it cannot be an excuse for a team like Man City to shy away from a poor season. The Etihad has seen millions and millions being spent on signing key players in recent past which fails their excuse of relying on couple of players for their success.
City’s woes were significantly increased last weekend after their 2-2 draw against Arsenal. The result meant that if United can somehow win their next two matches they will be in Champions League ahead of their City rivals and it would make Guardiola’s job at Etihad all that difficult next season.
Despite being defiant about their stance to reveal Pep’s arrival early, City board must be wondering what would have happened had they waited until the end of this season to announce a decision which has comeback to haunt the club in a massive way.
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