The difficulty with having Guardiola as our manager is that Manchester City are only judged when they reach perfection, and at that very point are dismissed for ‘ruining the league’.
Make no mistake, this was not the worst Manchester City performance I have ever seen. And I am not even going to go on about 20 years ago today claptrap. There have been more abject performances in recent years too. Leicester home in 2015/16 for one.
But it was the manner of the defeat which was concerning. It wasnt that we didn’t try or didn’t work hard enough. It was simply that we did not play well enough to beat a stubborn Leicester side. If Leicester can be considered a barometer of our title hopes then we can safely say, all which remains is hope.
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It’s no longer in our hands. Of course the weight of expectation being removed could be a boost we need at this time. Maybe we should refocus on domestic and European Cups alongside a top 4 finish.
It started brightly but we have developed a worrying habit of conceding every time an opponent attacks. We are half a yard behind the ball in midfield and then it’s all over.
Bernardo Silva nicked our goal from some delightful play and at that point I thought it could be a cricket score but we let Leicester equalise in their first attack.
Under Pellegrini we used to need to go a goal behind to spur us on to victory but this is different. This is as though we go a goal up and then develop some x men like power where our solid matter just drifts away. We become porous and transparent.
The first Leicester goal was soft. Fabian Delph forgot all about ‘the basics’ of football and went AWOL when required at left back, leaving Albrighton unmarked to steer in a header.
From that point on we toiled, we created some opportunities but we’re less than clinical in front of goal. We misplaced passes and generally looked too full of beer and turkey to play football.
Delph completed his afternoon by receiving a red card for a foul. From my obscured view it did not like it warranted a booking let alone a dismissal but warriors on Twitter seemed to be calling for the red card and arguing it was deserved but from my seat, Arsene Wenger style, I did not see it.
The second Leicester goal ended our chances. It was a well taken long range strike and our team seemed curiously accepting of the defeat.
I wasn’t and I also did not feel very Christmassy in relation to several of our under performing players. Leicester deserved their win. They took their chances and made it clear they were hungrier.
The Southampton game is looking like a spectre on the horizon. A further defeat there and the home game against Liverpool will be a coronation.
But we Manchester City and we need to dust ourselves off and go again.