Premier League: Pep's future in peril at City

The ‘Boxing Day’ results raised plenty eyebrows, not least the defeats for Chelsea, Spurs, and Man United. One result that seemed utterly predictable occurred in the early kick-off and that was Manchester City’s inability to get past Everton at home.

City have drawn only once in the last 14 encounters with the Toffees, winning the rest, going back to 2017. But yesterday’s draw may even be seen as progress for City such has been their decline this season.

City’s current state was summed up in Thursday’s outcome, as the Manchester giants struggled to find the net despite dominating the possession and shots on target at home in the Etihad. City even had the advantage of a being awarded a penalty early in the second half. Once upon a time, the sight of Erling Haaland standing over a dead ball ahead of a penalty meant one thing only, a goal for City. But that confidence was not there this time around. With City’s morale at rock bottom at the moment, and the fact that Everton keeper Jordan Pickford is going through a purple patch of clean sheets unseen in his career to date. Indeed, it all seemed so inevitable that the English number 1 would stop the spotter from the big Norwegian, and so he did.

Bad stats

City have now only won one of their last 13 matches. This includes nine defeats, as many loses as they had in their previous 107 fixtures. And it leaves Pep Guardiola in a situation he has never experienced before in his career as manager in Spain, Germany, or England. The side are in seventh place in the table on just 28 points, 14 points behind leaders Liverpool, putting the Catalan manager in a situation whereby there are now genuine rumbling about his future at the club.

Earlier this week, Guardiola, who entered the season looking for his fifth consecutive Premier League title with City, indicated that his side was struggling with confidence and self-doubt to such an extent that the side may struggle to claim a Champions League place not to mind the title come season’s end. Who could have imagined that Pep would be making such a statement at Christmas when the season kicked-off back in August?

Should there be questions about Guardiola’s position? To be fair, the above run of results are as bad and even worse than the record of the recently departed Erik ten Hag at Man United and Gary O’Neil at Wolves. Of course, those men’s bad results came after seasons of poor performances. But has it come to the stage that even Guardiola is no longer above speculation on his future?

Well realistically, there is little chance that Guardiola will be shown the door at the Etihad. He has simply won too much with the club. And while this season may be written off, no one is saying that the side is a busted flush. Even so, the way City’s form has dropped off is unlike anything we have witnessed from previous football dynasties. The supreme Liverpool side of the 70s and 80s, the Arsenal side of the 90s, and the Man United side of the 90s and noughties never collapsed to this extent. Sure, their declines were noticeable but only by a result or two, never by five defeats on the trot. This fall is far more drastic, and a resolution looks far more uncertain for now.

More woes?

Still, one would presume the team, and Pep would be given the opportunity to resolve the situation come next season. That’s if Pep and the team are still there next season.

Afterall, this may not be the extent of Pep’s woes. Fans may fear a bad season on the field may be compounded by the yet unknown impact of the 130 charges over financial irregularities at the club dating back a decade. Should any punishment on this issue impact City and Pep’s ability to compete at the level they’re accustomed to, then we might just see Guardiola make his own way to the exit long before he is served his P45 by the owners.