We are 3 months into the 2016-17 season, in the midst of the 2nd international break and we have an unlikely Top 2 with Liverpool and Chelsea pulling ahead of the rest both in footballing style and the results. There were popular suggestions of a Manchester dominated season this year but it was never supposed to be so easy. The likes of Conte and Klopp have done their homework over the summer and with Arsenal also firmly in the mix along with their arch-rivals Spurs, it is going be one of the toughest title races in a long time.
Manchester City, under Pep, are striving to be the perfect team according to the Catalan and while that will take time, let us take a look at their strengths and weakness which has been on display till now.
STRENGTHS
Manchester City could well have been considered the runaway title contenders if not for a drastic dip in form over the last month. Pep started off with 10 consecutive wins and there was a talk of this being a one-horse race. In the initial weeks, the ease with which the players had accustomed to Pep’s methods seemed to be the biggest surprise.
Achieving the eventual target of tiki-taka football was well on course and there were times when City were exquisite and bamboozled the opposition. The work rate had improved and the versatile nature of the players was used to the full capacity. The ability of the present City players to adjust to the new roles given to them has been a strong point in these early matches.
The individual performances of the likes of Sterling, Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne, Silva and Aguero has been almost flawless. They have looked committed to the cause and are giving their 100% on the field.
WEAKNESS
Defence has been City’s Achilles heel for a long time and while the nature of the problem might be slightly different it has been their biggest drawback again. Pep Guardiola, in his recent poor run, has stressed on the minimal number of chances the opposition are creating against them. But the question arises about the quality of defending in the box as every time an opposition player arrives in the box, they look like scoring. Particularly in the home matches against Everton, Southampton and Middlesbrough City have collected only 3 points and the dropped points might be costly down the line.
Another worrying trend has been the abundance of possession without actually threatening the goal. This wasn’t the case initially when they were taking lots more shots and were willing to attempt the final pass. But in a strange way, keeping possession seems too dear for the players and they have to take more risks especially with their defence needing a single chance to concede a goal.
