Premier League giants Manchester City haven’t had the greatest of starts to their league campaign, as Pep Guardiola’s well-drilled roster currently sit in 8th place on the league table. Although some will argue that they have a game in hand, no fixture is a given in the gritty and competitive environment of the English top-flight. The Citizens have dropped a flurry of points since the start of the season, in a manner that is rather uncharacteristic of one of Guardiola’s teams. The experienced manager looks out of his depth for the first time in his career, but that doesn’t mean that his time at the club is over.
If anything, their current predicament is likely to urge Guardiola to work hard on his team, so that they can return to their former glory days. The issues within the team have been plenty, and although their defensive fragility has been solved to a certain extent, it must be conceded that they still don’t look as solid as they did under the guidance of Vincent Kompany. Replacing the Belgian was never going to be easy, and that has been apparent to see. For City though, the biggest problem has been goals. The injury to Sergio Aguero did very little to help their cause, while Gabriel Jesus’ inconsistency was always going to be an issue.
Picking 3 Positions That Guardiola’s Manchester City Should Reinforce:
3 Positions That Guardiola’s Manchester City Should Reinforce
Left-Back
When Manchester City acquired the highly sought-after signature of Benjamin Mendy all those years ago, fans expected to receive a player who would solve their left-back worries for a long time to come. However, the speedster’s exploits have been an absolute letdown. There’s no denying his obvious quality, but his injury-prone nature and average defending skills mean that playing him from the start against even the smallest team in the division is a risk. Oleksandr Zinchenko is the man who has been deployed there, but the Ukrainian isn’t a very balanced defender either.
Central Midfield
Although some will argue that central midfield is arguably City’s strongest position in terms of personnel, a closer look reveals the gaping holes within the squad. Yes, Kevin De Bruyne is undoubtedly the best midfielder in the entire Premier League, but people often tend to forget the influence that David Silva had on the team. With Fernandinho now 35 and entering the twilight years of his career, Manchester City need midfielders, to the extent that just one more won’t do. Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden are options, but adding a couple more names to the list for depth and rotation will surely be on the manager’s agenda.
Centre-Forward
Another position where over the last few years, City have never had problems, is at centre-forward. Like Fernandinho and Silva, Sergio Aguero has been a staple of the Premier League for a number of years now, but his playing time has been extremely limited by injuries. Gabriel Jesus doesn’t seem to have the maturity and experience required to do the job once every three days, and that is certainly an issue. Bringing in another striker to provide Aguero and Jesus with some competition, with an eye on the future as well, wouldn’t be the worst idea Guardiola has had by any stretch.
