Major rebuild on horizon for Pep Guardiola? What is going wrong at Manchester City

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Five consecutive defeats 

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The manner of Manchester City’s capitulation against Tottenham Hotspur sent alarm bells ringing around the Etihad on Saturday night. Ange Postecoglou’s men romped to a 4-0 win at the home of the champions to spark an emergency inquest into City’s recent plight. It was City’s fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions and the unwanted records continue to mount after a disastrous month.

This is City’s longest losing streak since the 2005/06 season under Stuart Pearce and no English top-flight champions ha lost five on the bounce since Chelsea in 1956. Pep Guardiola has dominated English football since his arrival but he’s arguably never been under more scrutiny across his incredible managerial career, just days after committing his future to the club. City made history last season by winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title but they trail leaders Liverpool by eight points ahead of a daunting trip to Anfield next Sunday – so what has gone wrong?

What is going wrong at Manchester City?

Guardiola had never lost four games in a row before losing to Brighton before the international break, but that’s now been extended to five after defeat to Tottenham. Moreover, it equalled Guardiola’s highest-ever defeat with the Spanish master losing 4-0 on three previous occasions. Feyenoord’s visit in the Champions League on Tuesday night should ensure their winless record isn’t extended to six games but defeat at Anfield next weekend would leave them 11 points behind the leaders – no club has won the league from that position at this stage of the season.

City’s squad remains the second most valuable in the world on Transfermarkt but there’s clear problems in their set-up and Rodri’s absence has been pivotal. City’s midfield balance is off and they are far easy to play through as Tottenham highlighted at the weekend. In their first 14 games this season, City averaged 2.3 goals per game and conceded just 0.8 but that’s been completely reversed during their losing run – scoring just 0.8 goals per game and conceding 2.3.

City have conceded 17 goals in the league, which is the same as 19th placed Crystal Palace and nine more than Liverpool while there’s been issues in attack. They had 23 shots on Saturday without scoring while Erling Haaland’s productivity has dropped considerably from his usual insane output. Since famously telling Mikel Arteta to “stay humble” after the draw with Arsenal, Haaland has only scored two goals from a combined xG of 8.03 across seven Premier League games. They remain far too over-reliant on Haaland for goals and the Norwegian has had 37 shots on target this season with City’s next highest being Joško Gvardiol with seven.

Do Manchester City need a rebuild with an ageing squad?

It was widely reported that Guardiola received assurances that he would be significantly backed in the transfer window before penning a new deal and there could be a rebuild on the horizon at Man City. The 53-year-old, however, rejected this notion when asked about it after the defeat to Spurs, stating: “I think, when all the squad is there, it’s exceptional. I would not be, from my voice or my words, saying that the team is not good. But the team is not ready here, this is a little bit of the problem that we have in this period.”

Whether or not Guardiola truly believes his squad doesn’t need reconstruction, there’s no denying that City’s squad is ageing with several key players in their thirties. As the graphic above illustrates, seven important first team players are 30 or older with only Mateo Kovacic contracted beyond 2026 – Guardiola’s contract ends in 2027. So the Spaniard clearly faces major decisions over key players and the composition of City’s squad could look extremely different next season and beyond. Kyle Walker has shown signs of slowing down, Kevin de Bruyne can’t be relied upon and Bernardo Silva has endured a poor campaign.

Since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008, Manchester City have been synonymous with vast spending and their total expenditure stands at €2.86 billion – only Chelsea have spent more across since the Abu Dhabi takeover. City required huge investment to reach the pinnacle of European football but they’ve actually been fairly measured across recent seasons. Since the start of the 2022/23 campaign, City’s spending (€440m) ranks ninth and their net spend of just €15m ranks 81st across the world. When analysing City’s future, it’s imperative to highlight the impending court ruling in their battle with the Premier League but if they are successful then Guardiola will be empowered with a substantial transfer budget and he needs to refresh his squad to continue their success.