Manchester City headed to Merseyside on Sunday to face Everton in confident mood. The Citizens had recorded four wins in their previous five games. In their last outing against West Ham, Pep Guardiola’s side recorded an emphatic 5-0 win.
The trip to Goodison Park was never going to be an easy one, but hardly anybody saw a 4-0 Everton victory coming. City dominated possession without doing much with it, while the home side were clinical in front of goal.
Everton looked hungrier, more incisive and Manchester City looked like a team that just expected to show up and collect three points. The Toffees cut through the non-existent defence like butter. The display led to further questions about City’s defence and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Guardiola’s style and ability to adapt to the Premier League is now also being questioned. The former Barcelona boss has already admitted defeat in the fight for the Premier League title, which will not please Citizens fans at all.
The managerial legend was brought in to help City dominate the English top-flight and conquer the Champions League. Unfortunately, City are a million miles away from doing either of those things at the moment.
The Citizens have spent a lot of money ‘strengthening’ their defence in recent years. Last summer they spent close to £50million on John Stones, who arrived from Everton. The England international is currently looking very poor value.
Against his former club, he was responsible for at least one of the Toffees goals. However, centre-back partner Nicolas Otamendi, also a big money buy, struggled as well. Until Guardiola sorts out his backline City will always concede soft goals.
However, it was not just the problems in defence that Guardiola has to worry about. His expensive attacking options looked ponderous and lacked the ruthlessness needed to break down a resolute Everton defence.
Pep Guardiola is now facing the biggest challenge of his managerial career so far. At the moment it seems the Catalan boss may be heading for a fall in the Premier League.