Questions around goalkeeping and style of play raise questions about whether Man City can regain the aura of invincibility that once surrounded them
T
he truly great sides always come with an aura. One of the elements that makes them so hard to beat is that beating them seems so inconceivable. Even when they hit a bad run, the expectation is always that at some point they will rediscover their form. To some extent, Manchester City did that last season. As miserable as much of the campaign was, after losing to Nottingham Forest at the beginning of March, they put together a run of 10 games unbeaten and ended up third – even if defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final demonstrated the shortcomings that remain.
That game showcased City’s flatness at times going forward but also a strange openness at the back that was apparent again in the 4-3 defeat to Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup. Pep Guardiola sides, given how high their line is, will always be susceptible to direct balls played in behind them if something goes awry with the press; it’s an inevitable part of the risk-reward of that style of play.
Even in the 4-0 win over Wolves on the opening weekend, there were signs in the early stages of a potential weakness to that sort of tactic. It was just that flaw that led to Richarlison breaking the offside trap and crossing for Brennan Johnson to open the scoring for Spurs at the Etihad on Saturday. Spurs’s second goal, though, was just as worrying: goalkeeper James Trafford played an inexplicable pass to Nico González’s wrong foot under pressure at the top of his own box. It wasn’t an error of execution so much as one of conception. If it were a one-off, that might not necessarily be of too much concern, but it was very similar to an error Trafford made in Burnley’s defeat at Crystal Palace the season before last, leading to a red card for Josh Brownhill.
