Second half goals from Dusan Vlahovic And Weston McKinney Juventus moved up and away for a play-off spot. City are in the 22nd position in the Champions League.one point clear of 25th place Paris Saint GermainThe cut-off is currently below the point at which teams will be seen dropping out of the competition altogether. City face PSG in Paris in their next match and will be out of the Champions League if they lose.
But while that prospect would be a shame for a club of City’s stature and ambition — they were Champions League winners in 2023 — the biggest issue may be Guardiola and whether we can afford his improbable end. Observing the start. Eight-year reign in charge.
Is Guardiola’s position as City manager in jeopardy after his team’s unprecedented slump? It is highly unlikely that under chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in Turin, the club’s hierarchy will be so stooped as to consider sacking the most successful manager in the city’s history, a man who has 18 trophies have been awarded since 2016. But the faith and support of its owners is not the problem.
During that game in Turin, Guardiola cut an unusually restrained figure on the touchline — when he wasn’t slumped in his seat, he stood with his hands in his pockets, barely giving instructions to his players — – The real question is how long he can sustain himself in a role when he’s not doing anything.
Guardiola has never been just another manager, one of those guys who has good days and bad days and eventually runs out of solutions when problems start to mount. Yes, it has had bad results in charge. Barcelona, Bayern Munich And City, but Guardiola never went through the kind of crisis that all other managers endure. Until now.
A golden career that has been an almost unbroken success story since winning the treble with Barcelona in his first season in 2008-09 has kept the 53-year-old above the trials and tribulations of his contemporaries, but now that he are facing. To deal with them myself. Guardiola is failing for the first time in his career.
In Turin, he watched his team struggle to overcome a Juventus side that had gone into the game with just one win in their last six games and he did virtually nothing about it. What did He saw Kevin De Bruyne (33) And Ilkay Gundogan (34) The midfield ran out of steam and left them struggling until the 87th minute. Mathis Nunes in favor of Jack Grish.
Erling HollandCity’s goal machine, once again failed to contribute anything to the game when he wasn’t scoring — he managed just 18 touches all night. But once again, Guardiola was unable to change his selection or system significantly to make a difference.
When asked after the game if he was now questioning himself, Guardiola admitted he was, but with an air of defiance rather than hinting at a lack of confidence.
“Of course I question myself and I have my thoughts,” Guardiola said. “I’m stable in good moments and bad moments. I try to find a way to do it.”
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When pressed on whether he was now facing the toughest challenge of his career, Guardiola insisted he was not.
“My biggest challenge is to get results to continue the work in the first season. [at Barcelona]”Guardiola said. “That’s life, it happens. Sometimes you get a bad period, but I’m going to insist until we’re there.”
When Guardiola signed a two-year contract extension last month, he said he was beginning to see this season as his last at City.
“I was thinking a lot,” he said. “There were some moments, I have to be honest, I thought it should be the last moment, but at the same time, when the situation comes and the problems we had in the last month, I felt that now is not the time to go. , I would put the club down and I knew I had to do it.
“Don’t ask me why. Maybe there was a reason for the four defeats and I felt like I couldn’t quit.”
Those four defeats on the spin have now become seven defeats in 10 — one win in the same period — so things have gotten a lot worse. City have had no bounce on the back of Guardiola’s new deal and are now eight points behind their Champions League struggle. Premier League.
And because of the participation with the city FIFA Club World Cup In the United States next summer, their season still has seven more months to go and Guardiola and his players already seem drained of energy and ideas.
They have become a team of old men, lacking the dynamic and attacking force of Guardiola’s great teams, and the manager himself is literally scratching his head for answers.
The scenario we’re left with is that City could be kicked out of the Champions League and Guardiola’s new contract could cost less than the paper it’s written on.
Unthinkable? Not now.