IT was a chastising evening for Manchester City at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, a defeat that added further fuel to those who claim their era of supremacy has come to an end. This season is no mere hiatus. There will be no reset.
Instead, the players are broken beyond repair and the same can be said of the system and manager.
Of course, even their harshest critics accept they are capable of returning in a different guise in due course and challenging at the summit of the Premier League table again. The days of accruing 100 points, however, and having English football in a stranglehold, are done and gone.
It is a dramatic conclusion to reach, and it’s not a conclusion I personally agree with, but certainly it’s been persuasive in moments across a sustained crisis that at times has amounted to a disintegration.
City’s habit of conceding multiple goals in quick succession smacks of a mentality that is now brittle. It astounds too how often a routine transition results in a shot on their goal.
That latter weakness was again in evidence in Madrid and sticks out like a sore thumb with Liverpool coming to town, the masters of breaking at pace.
Indeed, with John Stones back on the treatment table and Erling Haaland a doubt for Sunday should we just back the visitors to the hilt now and call it a day? It seems like the logical thing to do.
Except no, it isn’t, not when we consider what occurred last weekend when City beat Newcastle.
Naturally, they do this every year at the Etihad. Always comfortably and always to nil yet there was something notably different about this performance, to the few other bright points across an otherwise mortifying few months.
The control was back. The verve. For the first time in a long time an opponent’s strengths were rendered null and void. Alexander Isak made a couple of darting runs from muscle memory but that aside, a very decent side was forced onto the back foot throughout.
It felt like watching a trailer for a blockbuster sequel. The reset had begun.
So much of this was due to City’s new signings, a trio who began the game with just 316 minutes of English football under their belts. It helps considerably that Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico and Omar Marmoush have not been wrung dry from the physical toll of winning league titles season after season. They are not jaded either from City’s recent woes. Moreover, with a combined age of 23 they injected energy and endeavour into the side, inspiring others to join suit.
Khusanov was lightning quick at the back and how that contrasted with having half-fit centre-backs depleted of all confidence. Nico offered structure and security in the middle of the park, a mini-Rodri no less. Marmoush fired a sensational hat-trick.
So if it’s that Man City who turn up against their arch foe, not the meek incarnation witnessed in Spain, or the troubled collective who were ruthlessly undone at the Emirates a fortnight ago, then what potentially awaits us in what remains the marquee fixture in the Premier League?
For sure, we can rule out a repeat of the one-sided encounter that played out earlier in the campaign, when the Reds almost found it too easy and subsequently squandered a host of chances. The 2-0 scoreline was ultimately a kindness to City.
This time out, a revisiting of their rivalry of old feels more likely, games that saw two brilliant creations collide in a chess match played out at light-speed.
Pep Guardiola will seek to pin Trent Alexander-Arnold back – the full-back creating 14 big chances this term and a goal-scorer in midweek – because he always does in this game. That puts a lot of onus on Marmoush while we can expect Phil Foden to drift over to the left as often as possible.
On that same flank meanwhile Gvardiol will have his hands full with Mo Salah, the Egyptian Prince only failing to score or assist in four league outings in 2024/25.
He has 19 goal involvements in 22 prior meetings with City.
Looking beyond individuals, a low card-count can be anticipated, despite the contest typically having moments of controversy. None of their last five meetings have seen more than four yellows brandished.
And, if we’re looking to the past to inform us of the future, then the game will either be drawn or City will win. Liverpool last triumphed at the Etihad in the league way back in 2015.
If that eventuality feels unlikely to you then the Reds’ recent form must be factored in. Granted, they have lost only one league commitment all term, while another two goals at Villa Park means that Arne Slot’s champions-elect have fired two-plus goals in 85.6% of their fixtures in 2024/25.
Yet even so, a poor decision to play a weakened side at Plymouth led to a fractious Derby draw, which in turn bled into a nervy, tight win over Wolves that Slot admitted later was ‘mentally difficult’.
On Wednesday, Liverpool lacked ideas up top and were mistake-prone at the back. If City played the best version of their nemesis back in December now they’re running at 75% capacity.
City prevailing won’t change the course of the title race, nor alter the narrative that Pep Guardiola’s side is in urgent need of renovation. It might though silence the dramatic conclusions some are arriving at concerning the Blues and that would be a start.
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