New Delhi: Manchester City are on a blink of not making it into the knockout stages of Champions League, the same competition that they won two seasons back. After giving up a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 to a fantastic Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, Manchester City are facing Champions League calamity. Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland’s goals gave Pep Guardiola’s team a commanding lead in the second half, but the French champions pulled off an amazing comeback to leap ahead of the Cityzens in the standings and drop City to 25th place in the table. They now need to win their final match against Club Brugge to avoid a disastrous early exit.
There were certain factors that led to calamatic loss for Pep Guardiola, and he only has himself to blame. Blowing away a two goal advantage is something that City have already experienced this season, when Feyenoord miraculously came back from 3-0 down to draw the match 3-3, leaving Manchester City shocked. With majority of City’s campaign being affected by their lack of confidendce on the pitch, they were infact doing way better against PSG, where they took their opportunities well and scored the two goals. However, Pep Guardiola did make a few decisions in the game that turned out to be major factors in the game.
Substitution disasterclass by Pep
⚽ 50′ PSG 0-1 Man City
⚽ 53′ PSG 0-2 Man City
⚽ 56′ PSG 1-2 Man City
⚽ 61′ PSG 2-2 Man City
⚽ 78′ PSG 3-2 Man City
⚽ 95′ PSG 4-2 Man CityPEP GUARDIOLA’S SIDE NOW SIT IN THE ELIMINATION ZONE WITH ONE MATCH LEFT 😱#UCL! pic.twitter.com/yZCYi0UMCz
— CloudNine Sports (@cloudninesports) January 22, 2025
This is something that you can’t expect from a top tier mastermind like Pep Guardiola, but in the second half of the match, majority of his decisions turned out to be costly for the 2022/23 winners. Yes, Jack Grealish possibly had one of his better performances in a while, and he turned out to be the best player on the pitch for Pep Guardiola’s side. However, he was brought in for Savinho in the second half, who was also doing great on the pitch. The problem lies with the substitution that was made alongside, as another top class performer who was a rock at the back for City, Ruben Dias was taken off by Pep Guardiola, only to replace him with Rico Lewis.
Dias has been City’s best defender for the past few seasons and in the game against PSG, Dias was there as a leading figure on the pitch, fulfiling his defensive duties. It didn’t seem like any sort of injury issue for Dias and above all it was Matheus Nunes who started as the right back for the Cityzens, who was completely obliterated by the young speedster, Bradley Barcola on that flank of the pitch. The first goal that Ousmane Dembele scored saw both of these players failing to do their bit, as Barcola just skipped past Nunes quite easily, only to find Dembele in the box, where Lewis was the guy who could have closed him down.
To be fair, Dias’ presence would have been much preferred there. Well, just minutes after that goal, Barcola found himself on the scoresheet this time, when Lewis was caught ball-watching after Doue saw his blistering shot hit the crossbar and it fell towards the French forward, who quite easily managed to put it past a struggling Ederson. There was no pressure provided by Lewis when he easily could have at least try to block a weak shot from Barcola but his unawareness allowed thr French forward to score the goal to level it.
In the third goal, it looked like City were playing like amateur footballers when Neves was found all alone at the far post as he headed it home, yet again, not being marked by Lewis, the closest defender who could have marked him. If this wasn’t enough to convince anyone, Pep also made a blunder in taking off Kevin De Bruyne, who was a main source of City’s best offensive threat and despite the talent that McAtee possesses, his involvement was barely felt upfront.
Same old tactics making it easy for PSG
FT: PSG 4-2 Man City
An incredible second half sees PSG comeback from 2-0 down to secure a valuable three points. 🍿#UCL pic.twitter.com/v6FQC6GxaT
— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) January 22, 2025
Anyday we would agree with the tactics and way Pep would want the team to play. However, Pep got his tactics horriby wrong and he was stubborn enough to not try something new despite knowing that he is playing against a team consisting of top tier talents. It seems rather clear that PSG and Luis Enrique did their homework well, but with the ease they managed to score those goals against Pep’s side were shocking for them too.
It seems like Pep has somehow settled in the same old tactic of keep the ball and play it with patience. Both sides committed mistakes and took advantage of them. The hosts scored their goals after Manchester City was really given two goals by two ricochets off the Paris defense. In the second half, you had six goals, 23 shots (18 for PSG and five for City), nine on goal, and more than three xG (expected goals) combined as they placed pressure on the City defense.
The game changed to one of the most stunning half of the season after one of the greatest tactical halves. If we talk about the defensive errors and overall defensive game of City, Pep usually likes to play a high defensive lines, which he eventually did in their recent success against teams like West Ham, Leicester and Ipswich. However, PSG’s attack possesses some of the quickest players in football world and fair to say, playing the high line wasn’t the best idea in this one for Pep Guardiola, specially when you do not have a proper holding midfielder of a right back.
The first goal that was conceded, clearly showed how City struggled to get back once Nunes was embarassingly beaten by Barcola, as Dembele managed to find the space to run into and finish it easily to get PSG levelled. In attack, let’s be honest that Erling Haaland did nothing if you keep the goal aside. When he made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute with a tap-in at the far post, Haaland likely believed he had won the match for Manchester City.
When a striker scores the game-winning goal, he has every right to celebrate and feel good about his performance. However, when his team loses and the game slips away from them, he must consider whether he did enough to change the outcome and the truth was that Haaland didn’t do enough. Marquinhos did a good job of marshalling him, and he didn’t appear like a player who had just inked a 10-year contract, the longest in sport. Haaland is without a doubt a merciless goal scorer, yet he makes little contribution when he doesn’t score.
What next for Manchester City?
Following their utter surrender in Wednesday’s 4-2 loss at Paris Saint-Germain, the 2023 treble winners are very much in danger of being ousted from this season’s Champions League. The absurdity of City’s demise is that it wasn’t unexpected. It wasn’t the first time this season that they’ve lost badly after grabbing the lead.
Of course, City should still qualify for the playoffs. They will just make it into the top 24 if they defeat Club Brugge at home. That isn’t a guarantee, though, as one of the most formidable and costlyly formed teams in the history of the game is now lacking in cohesiveness and confidence, especially in defense, and Pep Guardiola doesn’t seem to know how to make things better. However, City will be hoping that their January signings makes them a more threatening team in time for the knockout stage if they make any progress.
From failed substitutions to tactical calamities, Manchester City were absolutely thrashed by Paris Saint-Germain in their recent Champions League clash. So what went wrong for City, who are now in danger of not even making it into the knockout stages. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
