THE COMMANDING NATURE of Manchester City’s second-half performance against Everton on Wednesday night, fresh from being crowned club world champions in Saudi Arabia, might just be the catalyst for another of their trademark relentless streaks to leave the rest of the Premier League in their wake.
The ability to deliver a new standard of consistency has come to define Pep Guardiola’s time in charge under the stewardship of the Abu Dhabi ownership.
It’s why they are now chasing an historic fourth successive title – albeit beneath that cloud of 115 financial fair play charges hanging over them.
The title milestone is one the City manager feels will be harder than ever to achieve given they’ve already suffered three defeats and drawn four times so far this term.
For context, that’s the same number of losses and only two fewer draws than in the whole of that incredible 2021/22 campaign in which they pipped Liverpool by a single point on the final day.
“We play many games this season and people say we are not the same. We have lost one of the last 13 (not including the Club World Cup). We don’t talk enough about how good we are,” Guardiola said after his side came from a goal down to win 3-1 at Goodison Park.
“We were really pleased with how we reacted and it proved again how special this group of players is and the mentality that we have in our bones. We want to be there. I know we are not top of the league, (but) a lot of things are going to happen.
“I never saw a Premier League where every game the teams down low and mid-table can beat everyone. There will be a lot of surprises and the thing is to be there.”
City are loitering with intent in the top four but it has felt as though they have stuttered to a point at the turn of the year where they can still go above Arsenal with a win at home to Sheffield United tomorrow after the Gunners lost 2-0 to West Ham last night.
Victory will also see them trail leaders Liverpool, who host Newcastle United on New Year’s Day, by just two points and still have a game in hand.
We have become so used to seeing City find a gear that the chasing pack simply cannot keep up with. They either do it from the start – like that epic race with Liverpool a couple of years ago – or they find a rhythm after a bedding in process.
In 2020/21, the first leg of their treble of titles, it came between 28 November and 2 March. They had 15 consecutive wins in that time, 17 in total with two draws. They only conceded six goals and 13 of their 19 clean sheets were earned.
Last season the moment of change arrived from 5 February. Four of their five defeats were before that point, conceding 20 goals in the process, before a run of 14 wins and two draws saw them capitalise on Arsenal’s errors.
City ended the season with just 33 goals conceded and 13 clean sheets.
Now, though, it appears as though the issues at the back for Guardiola has him on course for a career-worst defensive record.
At City alone, in the seven full seasons since his arrival in 2016, his sides have averaged 17 clean sheets a campaign – a high of 21 in ’21/22 and low of 12 in that debut Premier League term.
So far, after 18 games in ’23/24, they have just four shutouts and conceded 21 times – they are averaging a concession of 1.17 goals per game so if that rate continues they are unlikely to break double figures for clean sheets for the first time in Guardiola’s career.
This is his 15th season as a senior manager and City are on course to concede 44 goals, another unwanted record for Guardiola who has never seen any of his teams, including Barcelona and Bayern Munich, break the 40-goal mark.
Again, that first season at City in which he turned to the erratic Claudio Bravo before being able to sign Ederson was the most goals (39) a Guardiola side has ever conceded.
In the previous 14 seasons Guardiola teams’ average concession rate is 27.2.
The tally for this season is already at 21.
City’s solidity is what has backboned those previous successes – along with an average of 94.14 goals scored over the last seven seasons. Their current rate of 2.39 per game will see them fall just below that (90) so shoring up at the other end will be required.
They still possess the kind of characters – Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Rodri – who have the temperament and quality required to restore defensive order.
During that crucial 12-game winning run last season that effectively won them the league, City conceded seven times and in only one of those games did they do so first.
“This game is about winning and we weren’t doing that [earlier in season],” Walker said after the Everton win.
“I think it shows the determination and belief in this squad. That’s what this team is all about, digging in, not quitting.”
They are noble, necessary traits for any successful side, but sorting out their defence will make life a little bit easier and should see them cruise to another title.
