A Crisis of Confidence

On Wednesday, City faced an underwhelming Juventus with the hope of breaking out of their malaise. Instead of leaving Turin with their issues solved, they returned to Manchester in one of the worst spells of Pep Guardiola’s career.

With little hope left in most competitions, Pep and City face a challenge that they may not easily fix.

Wednesday’s terrible result added another loss for City, who have only won once in the past month. The team’s play shows signs of a competent team, but they constantly undermine themselves.

After winning all that there is to win in the sport with City over the past few years, Pep lacked another challenge. Now, Pep somehow stumbled onto what must be the worst stretch of his career. Unlike previous years, it feels safe to write off City as a real contender for anything.

For the first time in recent City memory, the cracks are starting to form. Despite winning the ballon d’or, Rodri’s absence shouldn’t have this much of an impact. One of the more underrated things killing this team is the way new players are underperforming.

The game against Juve represented all that has continued to go wrong for City.

A team full of talented players led by a manager who never loses looks increasingly vulnerable.

Pat Riley, the “architect” of the showtime Lakers, spent a good portion of his life in Pep’s seat. Over the course of his illustrious career, he wrote about and diagnosed issues that repeat winners go through.

A core concept Riley grappled with was what happens to the desire to win once teams have won everything. Oftentimes, the coach argued that individual accomplishments dwarf the collective desire to win.

After all, isn’t all that remains to add yourself to the history books?

PHOTO: Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch, Kyle Robertson/USA TODAY NETWORK

By no means does this accuse City players of placing individual stats above all, rather than the winning formula being gone? If you look at this squad on paper, this is the most talented City side ever, but they play like they’re still in the pre-Pep years. The confidence and swagger are replaced by this malaise that tricks them into thinking they can still win.

Pep won in the past and will continue to win in the future, but will this iteration of City win anything? Going into his eighth season in Manchester, this is now the longest he’s spent at a club, and surely that has to be a factor.

In the past, Pep never experienced what could be considered a rebuild. It’s strange to say a team with this talent is heading towards a rebuild. However, the iteration of City that spent seasons dominating the Prem seems to be on its last legs.

At previous clubs, Pep left before the club ran out of steam. He never dealt with those strange Barça sides that needed Suarez to lift them. This is truly the first time he needs to address his club’s mortality in his career. 

Life, at its core, revolves around living through cycles, both good and bad.

How we navigate these cycles is the ultimate test of our lives, and Pep is headed into one.

In no break from modern City tradition, Pep oversaw some of the best transfers in recent Prem history. Yes, City possesses the resources of a nation-state, but they have spent well.

For the first time in years, it feels as if their returns are starting to slow down. Rodri remains a masterpiece of a signing, but it’s hard to find others. With plenty of this squad showing their age, the need for replacements has never been higher.

When Pep joined City, the team needed some revival. Older veterans like Touré still contributed, but the Spaniard made moves to add youth to the squad. These moves create a fine balance between competing and building towards the future. 

While not the biggest issue, this team still over-relies on the players who brought them their first Champions League. Juice exists in those players, but it’s getting harder to string together consistent winning performances from them.

Grealish remains the symbol of this attempt to move towards the future. After his time in Villa, the future felt his to grab. Meant to take the offensive load off of de Bruyne, the Englishman looks like a shell of his old self under Pep.

After a good first season, Doku regressed, and it remains tough to see how much potential he has. Savinho is still young, but this is hardly the ideal setup for him to get reps. Like the Golden State Warriors, City needed a new generation of players to save them, but that never happened.

In need of a revival, City find themselves grasping at straws.

Sure, the old, reliable players still play well, but as Juve showed, this team lacks any other ideas.

Juve exposed all of City’s issues to Europe without even being a great team. They showed that City, at their core, lacks fresh ideas and relies too much on the same set of players they have for years.

Pep faces a challenge in reviving this team, and spending may not be the way out.

PHOTO: Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch, Kyle Robertson/USA TODAY NETWORK