Pep Guardiola's side lacks the presence of a proper striker and left-back Benjamin Mendy's flaws were exposed against Tottenham Hotspur.
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Manchester City lost their opening match of the Premier League 2021-22 campaign against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, and became only the third reigning English champions to start their season with a defeat. Once again, Pep Guardiola’s side had the bulk share of ball possession and created the lion share of opportunities, but failed to find the back of the net. Tottenham scored from a counter-attack and then defended well to keep a clean sheet as well as earn three points. However, City started the last season at a slow pace but managed to find their mojo after some time. It also wasn’t City’s strongest team, which started against Spurs, with the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and John Stones not actively available. It hasn’t been the ideal pre-season for City and many of the players are way off their peak fitness levels.
But the 1-0 loss to Spurs pointed towards some of the issues in the squad that need to be rectified before the end of the summer transfer deadline on August 31. First and foremost, the need for a proper striker. Against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, Manchester City as usual created lots of chances but weren’t clinical in front of goal. The away side clearly missed the services of an out-and-out striker.
Sergio Aguero left City at the end of last season and he wasn’t Pep’s favourite player despite scoring a large number of goals. Meanwhile, Gabriel Jesus is the only recognized forward in the squad. Although the Brazilian is a talented player, he is yet to prove himself as a reliable goal poacher.
Therefore City’s quest to get the signature of Harry Kane could be crucial to their chances of defending the title successfully. Chelsea have already brought in Romelu Lukaku and Manchester United are also looking like a strong unit with the 5-1 drubbing of Leeds United in their opening match of the campaign.
The other problem for Pep is the left-back position. The club hasn’t signed a left-back since the arrival of Benjamin Mendy for GBP 50 million from Monaco four years ago. The Frenchman arrived with great expectations but failed to live up to them because of injuries and fitness issues.
The 27-year-old’s flaws were exposed by Son and Lucas Moura in the previous game. Both of them used the right flank effectively and even Son’s winning goal came from the breakaway move which saw the South Korean running down the wing completely unimpeded.
Meanwhile, this flaw at the left-back is not something new. The Spanish manager has so far been able to manage it with the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo. However both of them are not natural left-backs, therefore the Etihad based team might need a long term solution to the problem in order to stay at the top.
