City Watch: What is going on at Manchester City?

Another week and another two defeats for Manchester City, I think I’m getting quite accustomed to heading into a game, wondering whether we might actually win the game instead of assuming that City would be the favourites as usual.

I became a Manchester City supporter because of my Dad, who has supported the club for almost 60 years. I’m starting to see how he felt going though the darkest times at City! Just joking, what were going through now is just a drop in the ocean compared to where the club used to be, but it is very out of character for a Pep Guardiola side.

I was in Turin last week for the Juventus game, a game the Blues had to win to keep their automatic Champions League qualification hopes alive. However, a 2-0 defeat at the Allianz Arena has almost crushed any hope of going straight through. It also puts the pressure on for the last few games, as if we were to lose to also struggling PSG, we could have a chance of being knocked out completely.

I don’t want to talk too much about the game, however, I would like to speak about the treatment of English fans in Italy just based off my experience there. I know the us Brits don’t give ourselves the best reputation, but the way the fans were treated in Turin was, in my opinion, shocking. After the game, the fans were held in the stadium for at least an hour and a half.

I completely understand why this happened, I know ultimately it was to protect everyone involved, however, we were held inside with no update on what was happening, pushed inside then out in the freezing cold with no idea really what was going on. None of this will change going forward I don’t think, but it’s worth pointing out either way.

I’ve had my rant about Italy, now I’ll have to vent the rest of my anger on the derby. The results we’ve seen this season of late have been nowhere near the standard that the players themselves have set over the past few seasons. In my opinion, this kind of form has been a long time coming, we’ve been so successful so consistently, it was about time we went through a rough patch.

Derby Day, however, is different. Winning the derby could’ve proved a turning point before the New Year, it could’ve put us on solid ground and ready to try and rebuild in 2025. 

I hate losing to Manchester United, but the way we lost was completely unacceptable. Neither team really deserved to win the game, but City held a 1-0 lead from the first half up until the 88th minute. Nunes conceded a penalty after giving the ball away, which Fernandes converted. 

Amad Diallo then plucked out a long ball before going around Ederson and slotting the ball home to make it 2-1 late on. I don’t have much to say around this result, the players know that despite all the bad results, that is simply not acceptable and not good enough.

We seem very demotivated at the moment and I think with there being no game in midweek, it’ll give the players a chance to take their minds away from the results.

A trip to Villa lies ahead before Christmas, I’m not even trying to hold out any hopes, but let’s see, after all, we never win at home and we never win away!