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This season, Manchester City has fallen short of their own high expectations. At a pitiful 1.78 points per game, the reigning champions are now recording their lowest points per game since Guardiola took over as manager in 2016. This would put them 10 points below Pep's lowest total to date, finishing the season with 68 points.

The city has seen a sharp and unexpected downturn. The injury of midfield lynchpin and Balon D'Or winner Rodri, who would not play until the following season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury, has coincided with their downfall, but it is not solely to blame.

Rodri has participated in at least 46 games every season since joining the team, 33 Premier League games, and 80% or more of the available minutes throughout the previous four seasons. It was anticipated that they would struggle without him because of his indispensability to Pep Guardiola, but nobody envisioned what happened next. City continued to win six of their next seven games until losing to Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the Carabao Cup.

Everything went haywire after that; City lost the following four games and went 13 games without winning overall, which is unthinkable for a club under Guardiola. Following that miserable run, Manchester City has won five of their previous seven games and has added players, most notably Omar Marmoush, during the transfer window. It's still unclear what exactly went wrong.

As a result of injuries, Rúben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake, and Kyle Walker have all lost a tremendous amount of time. Rico Lewis has been given greater responsibility as a result, while Joško Gvardiol has hardly had time to relax, and that has been evident. In Europe's top five leagues, Gvardiol is tied for 12th place and leads the team in mistakes. Given that he has only made six mistakes in the three seasons prior, this is also a high number for the Croatian, indicating that he is having personal difficulties.

From a numbers perspective, the defense has lost its way. Manchester City is one of the strongest defensive teams in Europe because they have always defended with the ball. They deprive opponents of the ball, force them away from the goal, and pass the ball to death. That didn't work this season.

Last season, Manchester City had the 2nd-best defense in the Premier League this season 8 other teams have conceded fewer goals at the time this was published. Actually, among the top five leagues in Europe, Manchester City is ranked 56th out of 96.

From 2020, which is also the lowest ranking of the Guardiola era, to the previous four years, their lowest rating was 18th. This just serves to emphasize how awful City has been by their typically lofty standards.


Using the previous season as a reference, Manchester City is giving up one more shot on goal per game, which is equal to 0.5 xG more than one good opportunity. This only demonstrates how much further their defense has been broken.


They are having trouble being as compact, and their mistakes per game have almost doubled, going from 0.45 to 0.83. Moreover, the extra errors are probably not going to improve their defensive problems.

Even worse, City is converting at a slower rate. Last season, City scored 0.36 more goals than projected; this season, that number is down to 0.11, indicating that the squad is a little less clinical overall. The defense's current state of disarray has greatly exacerbated their problems.

Center backs Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis, both U21, have been signed, marking the beginning of the defensive makeover in earnest. The Cityzens will probably return to their peak sooner rather than later, even though Khusanov has had a difficult start. Rodri is expected to bring in a few midfield reinforcements to replace the aging Kevin De Bruyne and İlkay Gündoğan.