Dependence And Defense Are Manchester City's Obstacles

JAKARTA - Manchester City have just won their first win after seven games without a win, six defeats and one draw.

The Citizens beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 at Etihad on Thursday, December 5, 2024, early morning WIB.

The match was not only the beginning of the rise of Pep Guardiola's troops, but also opened the eyes that there were two gaping problems.

Indeed, they managed to get three points, but look how dependent Manchester City is on the figure of Kevin De Bruyne.

For the first time the Belgian player was played as a starter, since the last time September 18, 2024.

De Bruyne suffered a muscle injury that kept him out for a while. Since recovering in early November 2024, he has only been played as a substitute.

Guardiola only trusted De Bruyne to appear from the start in the match against Nottingham even though he didn't play full.

The contribution was no joke. The midfielder scored one goal and one assist, not adding a number of opportunities he created.

However, Guardiola dismissed that his team was dependent on De Bruyne's figure. In fact, that is the case, Manchester City is better off with the presence of the 33-year-old midfielder.

Judging by Guardiola's way of limiting De Bruyne's playing minutes, the coach shouldn't be ashamed to admit the dependency.

After all, the facts came to light when Guardiola played De Bruyne slowly after six weeks of absence. He wants his captain to recover properly so that Manchester City's performance will also improve.

In the match against Nottingham, Guardiola also pulled De Bruyne in the 76th minute to be fit to face Crystal Palace on Saturday, December 7, 2024, and Juventus in the Champions League on December 12, 2024.

In addition to dependence on De Bruyne's role, Manchester City is also still based on Erling Haaland's goals.

The problem is, when the striker is dead, there are no other players who replace his role as a predator.

The party against Nottingham also opened the fact that The Citizens need to have the option of scoring goals from other players.

Bernardo Silva has scored again since Community Shield against Manchester United in August 2024.

Haaland also only provided assists for Jeremy Doku's goal. That alternative is what Manchester City really needs.

It's just a matter of how in the future they can be consistent with this alternative, while looking for other solutions in the form of a substitute for De Bruyne's commensurate role.

Another problem that is very visible is defense. Guardiola must immediately overcome this.

You see, Nottingham was able to make 12 shots and could have scored at least once.

There was a golden opportunity from Chris Wood to equalize to 1-1 midway through the first half but failed to finish it.

The weakness of the defense, which is the hallmark of the series of disasters, The Citizens, has not fully recovered.

Ahead of the match against Palace and Juventus, the situation looked even worse because Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake were both forced off the field due to injuries in the match against Nottingham.

"The problem continues with Manu (Willaji) and Nathan. I am sad for Nathan. Manu, we'll see. Maybe not Selhurst Park, but Turin."

"I think Nathan will take longer. We played well. We still miss some easy things and lost some bait."

"That's better than (the defeat of) Liverpool and Bournemouth, but quite similar to other games we didn't win. Lami proved how great a group of players we had," said Guardiola.

The player crisis turned out to undermine Manchester City's performance. Their poor result in seven consecutive matches yesterday was triggered by the absence of a number of pillars, such as Rodri.

Then, taking turns entering the treatment room were John Stones, Phil Foden, to Mateo Kovacic.

Manchester City is still battling a list of injuries that weaken the back lines and creative attacks.

However, at least De Bruyne is back even though Guardiola insists that he is not the answer to all the problems.