*Fear, Tension Grip Man City Camp
By Oliver Thomas
Manchester City’s confidence could suffer a “painful” knock if they lose a third successive Premier League game at the hands of rivals Manchester United on Sunday,at Etihad, Citizens expert Steven McInerney said.
Pep Guardiola’s side kick-started the new campaign with a 4-0 away win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, but they have since been beaten in back-to-back matches by Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion, losing 2-1 to latter in their most recent fixture before the international break.
Man City have history when it comes to making a slow start to a new season, as they have dropped between four and eight points across their opening eight games in three of the last five Premier League campaigns.
The Citizens did go on to win the title in four of those seasons, though, before enduring a disappointing 2024-25 campaign in which Liverpool stormed to the top-flight title in impressive fashion.
Knocking the Merseysiders off their perch this term could prove challenging for a Man City side who are experiencing a transitional period under Guardiola, following the departure of six treble-winners in the summer and the arrival of several younger players across the last two transfer windows.
Guardiola’s new-look – and injury-hit – squad is now gearing up for a busy fixture schedule across multiple competitions, starting with the 197th instalment of the Manchester derby, a Champions League clash against Napoli and a trip to Premier League title rivals Arsenal.
Is Man City’s Current Squad Able To Bounce Back From Setbacks?
McInerney is hopeful that Man City can turn their fortunes around and enjoy a trademark winning run at some stage this season, but his “biggest concern” is whether Guardiola’s current crop of players are well-equipped to bounce back from their early setbacks.
“I’m usually in the camp that we can’t take too much from the first few months of the season, because City have a habit of finding form eventually and going on a winning run,” McInerney said.
“Even last season when we looked terrible, we had one of the worst records in the league, [but] from January 1 to the end of the season, City had the best form in the league – and I know Liverpool dropped off a little bit when they won the league, but even if they carried on, [City’s form] would have been the second best in the league, so we went from being diabolical to good.
“I expect City will go on that run of form, so even if City lose [against Man United] you can’t take too much from it. But my biggest concern is – and I don’t know how much it’s going to play into it yet because only time will tell – given how many changes there have been, I just don’t know how much of that City DNA is still there – that DNA of fixing things and leaning on certain people.
“There’s still a lot of quality and experience there, but there’s just been a lot of changes and I don’t know how much we can lean on the same ideas. I don’t know how much this team is capable of bouncing back from the setbacks because it’s such a different team and there’s so many new faces,” he explained.
Discussing the importance of Sunday’s Manchester derby from a Man City perspective, McInerney said: “I think it’s fair to say that losing this game, losing three games in a row – looking at the fixtures we’ve got (next) with Napoli and Arsenal – it could be really painful. It could knock the team’s confidence a lot.
“Guardiola did lean on the older plays last year: Bernardo [Silva], [Ilkay] Gundogan, [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Manuel] Akanji and Ederson. I understood why he did it last year, but (apart from Bernardo) they’re not going to be there, and so you’re asking for a show of character (from the current players) that we don’t really know if it exists yet – there’s a lot of question marks.
“I don’t feel quite as confident as I did in previous years that City would necessarily fix it eventually. I’m sure we would do, but there’s a bigger question because I don’t know what it can look like when Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico Gonzalez, Omar Marmoush – I know some of these have been involved last season such as [Abdukodir] Khusanov, but I don’t know what they’re going to look like when we’re up against it and things are looking terrible.
“Have they got the quality and experience to get through it? They might do, they probably do, but I don’t know for certain because I’ve never seen it before, so it’s uncharted territory for this current squad.
“Previously I’d be quite relaxed about us turning it around, but I don’t think three losses out of the first four, with potential losses against Napoli and Arsenal that could follow it – you’re then looking at five losses out of six games – that could really knock City.
“I think at that point, the season wouldn’t be unrecoverable, but it could drift very quickly and I don’t think that’s good for this squad. At that point, I would actually argue that’s not a rhythm thing, that’s the symptomatics of the squad, as opposed to time needed.
“I think people would start to question the quality and you see how things can roll with negativity and negativity. This could all be just conjecture, it could be fine, but I think this game is quite important.
“I think we could really do without losing this game, because I think we could get lost in our heads a little bit as a club, as a fan base, and I suspect it would hurt losing against United… We’ve got to win it. I just talked myself into thinking this is a must-win game!”
Despite his uncertainty over Man City’s squad, McInerney has backed the sky blues to come out on top, adding: “I do think we win. I think my logical side says I think United are poor, and everything that I’ve talked about will play on the players’ mind too.
“I think it’ll lead to City side with Rodri in control and [Phil] Foden and [Erling] Haaland stepping up. I’m going to go for 3-1 City. I think we’re going to concede, but I’m confident as it can be!”
PHOTO CAPTION: Haaland.
