The 3 biggest reasons behind Manchester City’s collapse

No team in world football is worse off at the moment than Manchester City, and their five straight defeats are made all the more striking by their sheer dominance of the Premier League over the last four seasons.

Since Liverpool’s remarkable 2019/20 season, Man City have been resilient in England’s top flight; Until the 2024/25 season, of course, when they suddenly look vulnerable.

Without Rodri, whose biggest bet for the Ballon d’Or has now emerged after winning the award, Manchester City look out of sorts. They are a second-tier team compared to Liverpool and their recent 4-0 defeat against Tottenham marked a new low and was their second consecutive defeat to Spurs in 30 days.

Manchester City conceded four goals against Viktor Gyokeres and Sporting CP. And now Pep Guardiola’s once-perfect structure has been shattered again, with four goals conceded.

Let’s take a closer look at the three main reasons behind City’s struggles since the switch to November.

Kyle Walker’s sudden decline

Signs of Kyle Walker’s fall from grace began to emerge at the Euros; Nico Williams ripped aging Manchester City to smithereens again during Spain’s victory over England in the final.

Throughout the tournament Walker appeared to be a weak link rather than the right-back who had previously kept Vinicius Junior in check in the Champions League knockout stages; This was literally the most difficult defensive task in world football today.

Walker was extremely poor even by his suddenly mediocre standards in the defeat against Tottenham; Timo Werner and everyone else in the Spurs offense were having a field day against a man who was once among the fastest players in the world.

Once had a top speed of over 37 km/hAt the age of 34, Walker has lost almost 10km/h of speed in the 2024/25 season and the right-back position has become untenable.

Actually there is no player in Manchester City WhoScored score is lower Walker’s ineptitude is starting to extend further into Ashley Young’s territory at full-back, which should leave City with no option but to permanently ban the former England international from the playing XI.

A midfield in need of renewal

Obviously Rodri’s absence looms large, but that still leaves no excuse for the woeful displays from Manchester City’s current midfielders; only Mateo Kovacic and Kevin De Bruyne distinguish themselves in any positive way.

And even KDB’s praise must come with an asterisk, because injuries and age are clearly taking their toll on the Belgian, no matter how brilliant he remains as a playmaker making three key passes per game.

De Bruyne’s technical ability has clearly not diminished, but the impact of his passing in the final third is not as pronounced. To make matters worse, De Bruyne was borderline elite and vastly underrated as a box-to-box progressive and even ball winner, but those attributes have all but disappeared in 2024.

A shell of his former self, De Bruyne this season looks more like a copy of James Ward-Prowse than a legitimate contender for the Premier League’s Player of the Season, which was his standard just a few years ago.

On the other hand, Ilkay Gundogan looks like a tragically bad decision by Pep Guardiola; whereas Barcelona are miles better off without a player who slows down the game, overdoes it defensively and actually looks closer to retirement than KDB; because at least De Bruyne can create a high enough amount of chances.

Manchester City were too focused on experienced players and lacked any proactivity in their midfield; instead he chose to allow Rodri to close the cracks, willfully ignoring the serious lack of intensity around him.

Erling Haaland is not Rodri

When Erling Haaland signed for Manchester City in 2022, few could have predicted that a defensive midfielder would beat the Norwegian sensation to become City’s first Ballon d’Or winner.

Even though I was one of those who felt Jude Bellingham or Vinicius Junior were stronger Ballon d’Or candidates last season, any argument I’ve made has clearly turned into a crow’s carcass and I need to strangle it because God, Manchester City have sometimes been in Rodri’s absence You look shocking.

Haaland has been Manchester City’s best player this season, scoring 12 goals in 12 games, but he seems almost necessarily the best player because the entire team is set up for him – and only him – to score goals.

Frankly, this is a subversive setup reminiscent of an NBA team from the 90s or 2000s; where one player is averaging 30 points per game and the rest of the team is stunned to have one guy’s ego stroked by his statistical efforts, and that’s the whole team. The unit becomes mired in mediocrity.

Haaland has goals but literally nothing else, and despite being an underrated creator at Dortmund and in his first season at the Etihad, he has zero assists this season with 0.6 key passes and 0.5 dribbles per game.

He has become the person the critics wrongly branded him as, but not because he couldn’t have been anything other than a poacher, but because he had to be, otherwise no one else would have scored.

Even then, you could argue that Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski and all the other great forwards Haaland is compared to have been able to balance being the top scorer with at least creating something, even on disappointing teams.

Haaland doesn’t do this, and while he is undoubtedly a great striker, his claim to be the best in the world needs to be questioned. Moreover, the difference between Haaland and Rodri has become clear as Rodri can elevate a team in various ways while Haaland cannot. He’s stuck.