With just over a third of the season now over, the battle for Premier League supremacy is between Arsenal, a defensively strong team that is finding it increasingly difficult to field a fit back line, and Manchester City, a side that is scoring goals on one side almost as quickly as Erling Haaland can score them on the other.
Since beating Liverpool before the most recent international break, City have conceded 10 goals in four games. That run culminated in an alarming near-capitulation at Fulham on Tuesday evening, as Pep Guardiola’s side came close late on after a draw they had led 5-1.
It was a similar story three days earlier against Leeds, when Phil Foden scored in stoppage time to secure victory after City had squandered a two-goal lead. The grim reality facing Guardiola, whose side are five points clear of Saturday’s lead ahead of their meeting with Sunderland, is that his side have conceded more goals in their last three league matches (eight) than Arsenal have all season (seven).
After the Fulham match, Guardiola expressed confidence that recent results are not evidence of an emerging pattern. He alluded to his players’ nerves and argued that Fulham’s goals were largely the result of his team defending too deep, allowing Marco Silva’s men to shoot from either side of the 18-yard box.
What Pep Guardiola said about City’s defensive problems against Fulham
“Three out of four goals [came from] A position we did not defend, there were no players on the edge of the penalty area,” Guardiola said. “We have to improve that in the future.”
Guardiola also made it clear that Fulham were unknown opponents for some of the players brought in this summer. The clear implication was that, with more time and exposure, City will improve.
“This will help us in future matches,” Guardiola said. “Every match is a new team for some players. You have to create a process to start correcting.”
Guardiola returned to that theme on the eve of Sunderland’s visit to the Etihad, insisting that City have tried to “understand why we conceded goals” in recent times and reiterating that mistakes are “part of our growth”. The question is whether the required corrections will come quickly enough for a credible title challenge to be sustained.
As Guardiola will know better than anyone, there are reasons for optimism. The fact that City could have drawn their last two games should not obscure the reality that they did not. As the Spaniard was keen to point out, they scored five goals away from home at Craven Cottage. And on Friday he highlighted the unusually high conversion rates of both Leeds and Fulham.
Pep Guardiola on Manchester City’s defensive problems
“[We scored] Three goals against Leeds and also five against Fulham,” said Guardiola. “There are two versions, we always talk about a lot of good things. How many shots on target did Leeds have? [Four] and scored two? Not that good, but it’s not bad. How many shots on target did Fulham have, maybe five, six? So the average that they shoot and we concede is high, so we have to improve.
“Of course I don’t like conceding two goals and four goals and six goals in two games. But sometimes we are the team that scores the most and we have to build on that. We have to learn to solve things like this and believe that we can do better, use what we are and create chances and goals, because that is what we are built for.”
There can be no doubt about that, especially after Haaland broke Alan Shearer’s record to become the fastest player to score a century of Premier League goals in midweek. While it will take some getting used to, City’s tendency to play on the counter-attack undoubtedly lends itself to the Norwegian’s strengths. With Phil Foden also in flying form with five goals from 12 league games, Guardiola’s team now exudes a bit of Jurgen Klopp’s early Liverpool, a perhaps misplaced confidence that they can make up for any defensive shortcomings through the sheer weight of goals.
It remains to be seen if the trend will continue, but for now at least it leaves us with an intriguing title race. Arsenal have a wonderful defense, but are sometimes too conservative; City do not lack potential, but lack defensive determination. It creates a fascinating dynamic.
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