Manchester City must correct their frailties to get back to the required level | OneFootball

Although there were positives for Manchester City to take from their 2-nil defeat to Liverpool on Sunday there were some familiar frailties on display at the Etihad. It’s those frailties that must be addressed going forward for Pep Guardiola’s side to return to the level we have seen them reach during recent seasons.

The first frailty that was on display occurred in the build-up to Liverpool’s opening goal. Rico Lewis was caught in possession which led to a Liverpool corner. From the resulting corner, Arne Slot’s side took the lead after a well-worked corner routine through Mo Salah. But the issue came when Lewis was caught in possession. He had no options to play the ball to and that was the issue. Perhaps Lewis could have played it safe and put the ball out, but typically, Pep Guardiola’s side always has an option for a player in possession. That was lacking on this occasion and it’s something that needs to be addressed going forward. It isn’t a new issue but perhaps it speaks to the low confidence levels in the Manchester City squad.

READ MORE: A changing of the guard is happening at Manchester City.

The other issue that stood out was that City’s midfield was too easy to play through and their defence is too easy to get behind. These aren’t new issues but they must be addressed. Nico played well, but at times he was left on an island in midfield. It’s not immediately clear how that issue can be addressed with the current players at Pep Guardiola’s disposal. But it does need to be addressed.

That issue plays into the issue of Manchester City’s defence being too easy to get behind. Josko Gvardiol had a torrid time up against Mo Salah and a lot of Liverpool’s threat came from that side of the pitch. We saw that for Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal and again for the goal that Curtis Jones had chalked off for being offside. These are issues that need to be addressed, but once again it’s not immediately clear how they can be at this stage.

One quote from Pep Guardiola stood out after yesterday’s match. Speaking with SkySports he said that Manchester City are well below the level of Liverpool. He told the media: “We’re far away [from Liverpool’s level], we’ll see in future. What we’ve done in previous seasons has been good, but now we’re away from them. We knew it.”

To get to that level two major frailties need to be addressed. These aren’t new issues for Manchester City we have seen them all season. To get back to their level they must addressed by Pep Guardiola and his team. When they are it may help City return to the level that is required to compete at the top of the Premier League once again.