Is Manchester City's Four-Game Losing Streak Proof Pep Can't Win Without Key Players

Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers of all time when looking at his trophy collection through his years. However, one of his common criticisms is that he has always had the crutch to have some of the best players in the world. He took over Barcelona at their prime with players like Messi, Henry, Xavi, Puyol, Eto’o, and more going on to win 14 trophies across all competitions from 2008-2012. At Bayern Munich, he came into a squad with most of the World Cup winners from the German national team like Neuer, Müller, Lahm, and Boateng while also having stars like Lewandowski, Robben, and Alaba. He had consistently come into teams filled with stars that seemed impossible to lose with.  

This changed when he went to Manchester City where he joined a squad that had stars, but none were the world’s best at any position. It was his first challenge many fans would say but he quickly formed a team that would dominate for years to come through Saudi money backing millions of pounds worth of transfers every season with some estimates coming to over a billion pounds just through his time at City. Pep’s first Manchester City team was still star-studded with players like Agüero, Touré, De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling, Sané, and Foden who quickly took over England as the new kings of the Premier League. Pep is a football genius who has changed and shaped a lot of what modern football is today but still carries a shadow of doubt as to his abilities with a normal team instead of an all-star squad.

This is apparent today as Manchester City has, for the first time since Pep took over, lost four games in a row. Only one of the losses came from a giant club you would think with the first loss coming from Tottenham but the next three came from Brighton Hove and Albion, Sporting C.F., and Bournemouth AFC. Pep’s team has many injuries to key players like the recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, all four of the team’s main center backs, and although De Bruyne is playing he is still miles off of being fully fit to play. It seems the people’s criticism of Pep relying on stars to win games is becoming more and more believable. This is the worst losing streak in all of Pep’s managerial career and all eyes will be on him in City’s next game against Tottenham on November 23rd.