Manchester City Will Not Find Short-Term Solutions

Manchester City's slump continues, Pep Guardiola wants to find a solution on the January (Instagram/@mancity) exchange.

JAKARTA - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his team would not be satisfied with the short-term solution in the cold transfer market in January 2025 in an effort to stop poor performance.

The Citizens again failed to win when Everton was held 1-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day, December 26, 2024.

The result left them only one win, nine defeats, and three draws from the last 13 matches in all competitions.

Guardiola said he needed a new player in January 2025. However, he did not want to buy players in the winter market to simply close the hole from the storm of injury which has had an impact on the team's poor performance.

The Spaniard insists the club will only look for players who can have an impact for four or five years.

"The winter transfer window is not easy. In fact, the players know that we have to bring in some new players."

"But after that, when these players came and played in their position, they weren't happy."

"We have a lot of (injury) and this is a problem. It's about bringing in players for the next four or five years and we'll see."

"Sometimes it's not easy. We have to try because it's been a long time," said Guardiola.

Meanwhile, the failure to win in the latest match clearly broke Manchester City's record, as well as emphasized how their performance did not improve.

The perfect record of seven home wins at Boxing Day since 2002 is shattered.

In fact, they had a chance to beat Everton first through Bernardo Silva in the 14th minute. However, before halftime, the visitors equalized through Iliman Ndiaye (36').

Several chances of winning again failed to be utilized properly. Erling Haaland missed a penalty in the 53rd minute.

Another problem, Manchester City failed to create an important opportunity after the penalty.

"I think we're very patient. That's the momentum of the season, that's a small part of the situation."

"Everything took longer to work. Regarding the standings, I have no argument."

"Football is about winning, scoring goals, and not conceding. We've always done it for the past month and a half. We can't afford to do it," Guardiola said again.

The additional one point makes Manchester City now down again to seventh in the 2024/2025 Premier League standings. They packed 28 points from 18 matches.