Manchester City's 'hidden' midfield woes could derail its season

Coach Pep Guardiola — who joined City in 2016 and recently signed a two-year contract extension with the club — had never lost five games in a row with any team in his 17-year professional coaching career. 

"We have never lived this kind of situation," Guardiola told the Guardian after the Spurs game. "Now we have to live it and break it by winning the next games, especially the next one. Now we see things in one way, maybe in a few weeks we see it differently.”

When asked why City was struggling, particularly against up-and-down teams such as the Spurs, Guardiola was quick to blame the team's defense.

"In this moment we are fragile defensively," he said. "We started really well, as normal, but we could not score and then after that we conceded. After that we conceded some more, which is difficult for our emotions right now."

But despite Guardiola's assertions, City's defenders — particularly fullback Josko Gvardiol and sweeper Manuel Akanji — are some of his more reliable players in this time of crisis. It's City's midfield, not its defense, that is letting the side down.

In central midfield, City is still reeling from the loss of Ballon D'or winner Rodri — the Spaniard suffered an ACL injury against Arsenal in September and is expected to be unavailable all season. City has two replacements for Rodri in its lineup, but neither has shone in his absence.

Ex-Chelsea man Mateo Kovacic is consistent, but he has a far lower ceiling than Rodri, while City youth prospect Rico Lewis is capable of greatness but struggles to make an impact when City falls behind. It was Lewis who started against Spurs on Saturday, and it was Lewis who was out of position to allow the Spurs' crucial second goal.

In creative/attacking midfield, City has another injury crisis: Kevin De Bruyne has not played well all season, and while the Belgian maestro made a substitute appearance against Spurs, he's far from full fitness. 

City re-signed Ilkay Gundogan, a former City player, to replace De Bruyne, but he has struggled to find attacking through-balls this season. In his full 90 minutes against Spurs, Gundogan — City's most prolific ball-mover with 88 completed passes — sent the ball sideways or backward 91% of the time. He only managed to find his attacking teammates eight times.

That lack of forward ball movement was fatal for City. It caused forwards Erling Haaland and Phil Foden to drop deeper because they simply weren't receiving passes from their normal positions. Neither was able to make goalscoring progress from deep on the field, leaving poor Bernardo Silva as City's only dedicated creative attacker. Silva tried his best, but he was unable to break through Tottenham's defense on his own.

City has two opportunities to break its losing streak this week: a home against the Eredivisie's Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday and a critical away match at Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday. Guardiola must rally his midfield if he hopes to find a way through either team. 

"You have to [rely] on the simple things that we believe in completely. Step by step the players will be back and we will get back to trying to win games," he said. 

"I’m hugely optimistic in my life. Hopefully they can follow me.”