"Maybe we play s*** tomorrow but the feeling is good."
So said Pep Guardiola ahead of playing Chelsea, as he doubled down on his unpopular assessment that Manchester City had played well against Everton. It could be argued that it was only a very good goal that stopped them beating the Toffees, but most who watched it saw a drop in the level from the performances against Liverpool and Leeds.
The standard was even lower against Chelsea as City not only struggled against a team lacking in fit players and confidence but inadvertently gave their opponents confidence. With every slice through a non-existent City midfield, Chelsea hopes of a shock win grew.
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Obviously, the unorthodox formation was down to the manager and he must take some responsibility for it not working. Pushing Joao Cancelo up to be a right winger and moving Rodri in as a centre-back when needed created unnecessary chaos and meant City lost their advantage of a team where every player knows what to do, where to go, and what their teammates will do.
Despite that, the formation could not be held culpable for a string of basic errors that senior City players made through the game that put them on the back foot. Where City have usually been at their most incisive in these fixtures, this was one of their sloppiest spells for a long time.
Rodri showed shades of his early years at the club by needlessly giving a free-kick away in dangerous territory that Erling Haaland did well to head away; minutes later in the first half, Kyle Walker chucked a throw-in straight to an opposition player to ruin a decent position for the visitors; then Kevin De Bruyne gave the ball away in his own third when usually he would have started a counter-attack cutting through the pitch.
Guardiola made two personnel changes at half-time and altered the system and the performance improved instantly, suggesting the formation had limited the team. And they went on to win the game, so there is no great inquest needed.
Basic errors cannot be ignored though because they go against the simple request that the manager asks of his players: do the simple things well. It didn't cost a goal at Stamford Bridge, but they dropped two points against Everton at the weekend because of it.
No player is perfect of course, yet individuals in the team making silly errors in multiple games should be a concern because it brings up worrying throwbacks to the 2019/20 season - the only year in the last five when City did not win the title. The Blues generally outplayed their opponents enough for Guardiola to be satisfied with the performance, yet individual errors were so many that they shot themselves in the foot too many times to get close to an outstanding Liverpool team.
If City do not cut the errors out, it will cost them in their hunt for trophies this season.
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