Manchester City are their own biggest enemy

It’s hard to see any team catching City in the Premier League, their dominance in the league has left the rest of the field competing for second place instead of even trying to catch the blues.

Their stellar displays have pretty much guaranteed them the title and lead them to face Arsenal in the final of the Carabao Cup, hopefully netting Guardiola his first title since arriving in Manchester.

However, despite the continued brilliant form from Manchester City, shown by thrashing ‘The Foxes’ 5-1 at the Etihad this weekend, Guardiola and his team have still had their problems.

Most of Guardiola’s recent worries have been around City’s squad depth, or lack of it so to say. In City’s recent away draw against Burnley, Guardiola only named 6 players on the bench due to recent injuries and absences within the squad.

With some of City’s key players this season picking up injuries, such as Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and the multi-functional Fabian Delph has really left the City management clutching at straws when it comes to fielding 11 players on the pitch and naming 7 substitutions it would seem.

Surely this was some form of statement to the footballing authorities by Guardiola, after recently complaining about the ‘lack of protection’ the officials offer the players, and then seeing Leroy Sane stretchered off against Cardiff after a late challenge.

The immediate worries for City fans is how soon can the Blues get Sane, Jesus and Delph back on the field playing, but surely a club the size of City should be able to fill a bench after losing some players, which every team in every league have to contend with, after all, football is a contact sport.

Over the coming months, City could find themselves in trouble, with having to face 7 games in a month, including travelling abroad, it seems Guardiola’s men have quite a feat ahead. Even with a squad full of players that are all ready to play, it’s a gruelling prospect, so with a squad filled with absentees and injuries it could be a real stumbling block for City.

I’m not suggesting that City’s title hopes are in danger, however after their dominance in the league, people were quickly asking how many trophies will this team win this season.

Being one of the most inform teams in Europe, it would almost be a disappointment if they only won the league title this year with the competition being in the hands of City so early on, so the fans have turned their attention to their domestic cup aspirations and especially making an impact in the Champions League.

With Guardiola’s worries about squad depth after his bold statement against Burnley, it would be hard to imagine that the same 11 will be fielded across the hectic schedule facing the Blues, especially if they hope to maintain their stupendous form and performances.

Doubles and trebles are not handed to teams, they are earnt, and if City are to really focus on becoming one of Europe’s most deadly teams, they need to do that across all of the competitions in England first. If having a few players out for injuries is already causing Guardiola problems, I think the City fans and players can say goodbye to possible double or treble aspirations.

So far so good for the blue side of Manchester, however they are about to start a tricky spell within their calendar, testing the character of the team, and we will really see what they can achieve.

With injuries and squad players missing aside, City’s only possible danger is themselves, complacency can kill teams that are in the lead, they must keep up their sky-high standards in order to achieve their potential, something that I’m sure Pep Guardiola and his team have been instilling into his players throughout the season.

 

Written by Thomas Clough

Follow Thomas on Twitter @CloughTom

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