Most lingering worries within the Manchester City fanbase over Saturday’s chaotic 3-2 loss to Tottenham relate to how such a sapping defeat might affect Pep Guardiola’s side at a vital stage of the season.
There was one familiar aspect to the defeat that Blues hoped had long since been put to bed.
As in the Champions League defeat to Lyon and Chelsea in the past two years - arguably the two lowest moments of the Guardiola era - a well-drilled 3-4-3 stifled City and pulled them apart on the break (and in other ways, too - calm down, Antonio!).
So is this susceptibility something that will return to haunt City as they chase three major honours or have performances since those Lyon and Chelsea setbacks proved that the manner of the Spurs defeat can be an isolated incident?
City Is Ours duo Dom Farrell and Alex Brotherton discussed this potential Achilles' heel on their latest MEN Facebook Live.
AB: “As much as [City] struggled to deal with Kane they also came up against a somewhat familiar system which has proved difficult for them in the past. That’s a 3-4-3 setup.
“Nightmares of the Champions League final come back to us when we think about that. City struggled with that but you don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem going forward, do you?”
DF: “It shouldn’t be. Aside from tactical things, the manner of the defeat was just so weird. The way City played after [Riyad] Mahrez’s penalty was just so, so out of character. I’m probably more concerned about that and how the players absorb that over this week.
“I can’t think of a game where City have had so many problems on the break and have been so exposed since the Champions League final. Chelsea had a very well-drilled 3-4-3 that worked very well. City have since completely outplayed Chelsea, dominated them twice.
“I know there were some elements that Guardiola wasn’t happy about in the Sporting win last midweek - maybe some of those aspects were still there on Saturday and that’s why he warned them about them, things like being a bit careless in possession.
“But Sporting play an expansive 3-4-3 and City took them to bits. I don’t think that formation itself is as much of a problem anymore.
“I think playing against a team that play the system in a really well-drilled way, with an exceptional coach and brilliant forward players - whether it’s [Thomas] Tuchel with [Kai] Havertz and [Mason] Mount or it’s [Antonio] Conte with Son [Heung-min] and [Harry] Kane, that can be a problem.
“But, Champions League draw aside, it doesn’t look like City are going to play a team like that for the rest of the season. Whereas when we were going around losing to Lyon playing three at the back and struggling against Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves, I don’t think it’s that big of a problem now.
“At the weekend it came down to the quality of the personnel City were up against and the fact that our players abjectly failed to deal with that challenge, rather than any sort of a deeper system problem.”
Do you think 3-4-3 remains a major issue for City? Or should Aymeric Laporte's place be questioned? Follow City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
