Last season Manchester City fell well below the standards set in their previous two campaigns that had seen the Citizens claim consecutive Premier League titles. That is why Pep Guardiola’s team needed to make a good start to the current campaign.
They opened it with a hard-fought 3-1 win at Wolves before an incredible 5-2 home defeat by Leicester City on Sunday afternoon.
A familiar defensive capitulation from last season reared it ugly head again for the Citizens, as Jamie Vardy and co. ran riot to maintain the Foxes hundred per cent record in the Premier League.
That defensive display would be more concerning if it wasn’t for the fact that City will see Aymeric Laporte return to the team in the near future.
The Citizens also look set to capture the signature of highly-rated Portuguese centre-back Ruben Dias from Benfica. The pair certainly look a far more formidable prospect for opposition attackers than Eric Garcia and Nathan Ake.
They will add solidity to that leaky City backline. However, the full-backs Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker were also a concern for the former champions too, as both gave away penalty kicks and wasted possession generally.
City did not possess their usual attacking threat either, with senior strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus both sidelined through injury.
Guardiola had to turn to teenager Liam Delap, who came off the bench to make his City debut. The 17-year-old did okay, but he was always going to struggle against Leicester’s three centre-backs.
Manchester City have to bounce back quickly from this embarrassing defeat. If Liverpool beat Arsenal in tonight’s clash at Anfield, the reigning champions could be six points clear of City at the top of the table. The men from Manchester would still have a game in-hand, but even this early in the campaign the Citizens look miles behind the team from Merseyside.