Manchester City are in a slump, and the international break gives manager Enzo Maresca time to address growing problems in his squad. After a record start that saw seven consecutive Premier League wins, City have lost three straight matches and sit six points behind league leaders Arsenal.
The Italian took over from Pep Guardiola in the summer and made a dream start. However, City have since dropped to third, behind Arsenal and Brighton. In September, the club was found guilty of breaking the Premier League’s financial rules, and matches have continued while City await the outcome of their appeal. With possible sanctions hanging over them, the question is whether the recent slide stems from psychological issues or from tactical problems that Maresca must fix.
Psychological strain
Sports psychologist Dr Paul McCarthy, who has 25 years of experience with top clubs in England, Scotland, Germany and France, says players’ personal and professional lives both affect their performances on the pitch. He says that when situations become disrupted, staff need to “piece together a jigsaw.”
McCarthy explained that players react to uncertain events and the rumours that surround them. Over time, repeated defeats can weaken a squad’s collective efficacy, which he described as a team’s belief in its ability to win. “Because of their success in the past, that is often shaken a little by consecutive losses,” he said.
Asked whether the appeal could affect the focus of City’s players, McCarthy said that would be a reasonable human response. He added that uncertainty often feels more stressful than bad news. “While you are waiting and you don’t know the outcome, you are uncertain of where you are, and there is that lack of control for a lot of people,” he said. “They come to training, they play their games, and it’s outside of their responsibility.”
City started the season without conceding a goal from an individual error in their first seven games. In the three matches since, four mistakes from players have contributed to goals. The club has conceded 13 league goals in 10 games, its highest total at this stage of a season since 2008-09, when it had let in 16.
Tactical concerns
Maresca has used a 3-1-6 shape more permanently this season, swapping a second holding midfielder for an extra attacking midfielder. A coach with a squad of quality players has good reason to want a front-foot, imposing style. However, the success of any system depends on the players carrying it out.
The central question is Elliot Anderson. He is naturally a roaming midfielder who relies on his physical strengths. At Nottingham Forest, he defended intensely, pressed high and wide, and contributed to attacks. This season, Maresca and his staff have tried to shape him into a more sitting midfielder following the departure of Rodri in the summer. Learning that role takes time, as it did for Rodri when he first arrived.
Anderson has largely impressed, but he keeps stepping out of his holding position to press or track opponents. Clever opponents have exploited this by dragging him out of position and then finding players in the space he leaves. With Anderson vacating the central area, opponents can drop in and receive the ball directly from centre-backs.
Because City press high and often man-to-man, Anderson has had to cover more ground, and the midfielders alongside him have lacked the physicality to support him. Enzo Fernandez often makes attacking runs into the final third when City have the ball. This can leave City with as few as two or three players behind the ball, which gives opponents easy counter-attacking chances if they break the first press.
For Maresca, the bigger issue is losing possession in the first place. After the defeat to Forest, he said: “You concede transitions when you lose the ball, and when you don’t win duels.”
The back line raises further concerns. Gianluigi Donnarumma is not renowned for his ball-playing ability, and the defenders are serviceable on the ball but have made costly errors under pressure when playing out from the back this season.
Guardiola tried to reduce these problems last season by asking midfielders to take on more ball-playing duties. The loss of Rodri, and especially Bernardo Silva, who would drop deep and carry City out of their own half on his own, has made these problems more obvious. Anderson is a strong player, but he cannot single-handedly resolve build-up play in the way Bernardo Silva did. Ayyoub Bouaddi may be able to take on that role, as he showed against Brazil’s press at the World Cup.