Manchester City s championship apocalypse! Blood exchange is imminent, Youth Storm + Goalkeeper Revolution

When Manchester City faces Wolves on Saturday, there will be a little less on the jersey, and Guardiola's side will play like other ordinary Premier League teams for the first time in nearly four years. The golden Premier League badge they have been wearing on their right sleeve since May 2021 (indicating that they are champions) will disappear, replaced by a regular blue badge that other teams except Liverpool have worn.

Back in November last year, Guardiola actually admitted that Manchester City would not win the league title, but that doesn't mean that when Liverpool confirmed to be the new champion last Sunday, Manchester City would feel less painful. City had just beat Nottingham Forest to reach the FA Cup final at the time, and many coaches would see the positive side after Wembley won the semifinals, but Guardiola was serious when asked if the season would eventually improve.

Guardiola said: "No, we are behind Liverpool a lot, many points, which is not good." To be precise, the gap between Liverpool and Manchester City is 21 points, but for a coach with an irresistible desire for victory, it is no different from falling behind many, many points. In his 16 seasons as a top league coach, Guardiola has failed to win the league title for only four times, and he is already planning to regain the championship. In the 2016-17 season, Manchester City failed to win the championship in his first season as Guardiola coached, and he spent £214 million to sign a new player in response. A year later, they regained the championship with a record 100 points and defended the title with 98 points the following year. In the 2019-20 season, when Manchester City fell 18 points behind to Liverpool, they responded with a record four consecutive championships.

No doubt Manchester City will make a comeback next season, desperate to get the championship back directly from Liverpool, here are what they need to do to ensure the championship trophy is only temporarily leaving the Etihad Stadium for a year.

Looking for a new goal

Just a year ago, Manchester City's goalkeeper position seemed to be solid. Ortega was not only reliable as Ederson's substitute, but also repeatedly made great contributions. Ortega is even recognized as a key contributor to the 2024 championship. His extraordinary save against Son Heung-min in the penultimate round of the season defended the championship hopes.

But the problems exposed this season show that what Manchester City needs to introduce is not a new goalkeeper, but two. Guardiola's dissatisfaction with the two goalkeepers was fully revealed as early as January 2-2 draw with Brentford. At that time, he not only let Ederson rest on the away game (not the first time this season), but also roared at Ortega's ear after the final whistle, obviously furious at the goalkeeper's performance of conceding two goals in the final stage.

Since then, Manchester City has become an open secret. Last summer, Ederson wanted to switch to Saudi Arabia. Although he was persuaded to stay by Guardiola, Guardiola was too lazy to hide when asked about Ederson's future before the FA Cup semi-finals: "I don't want to talk about this issue now." Although Ederson has contributed four assists this season (a miracle for goalkeepers), it is an indisputable fact that his save ability continues to decline. The repeated mistakes in key battles such as the Champions League have proved that he has become a hidden danger on the line of defense.

Ederson and Ortega's contracts will expire in 2026, and Manchester City must prepare for the future and introduce a new goal that can guard the goal for at least five years. Porto captain Costa is the number one candidate, and Lyon's Shevalier also entered the field of Etihad's scouts.

Carefully arranged for Rodri to come back

Even without this injury, Liverpool may still win the championship, but a torn cruciate ligament against Arsenal in September is undoubtedly a turning point for Manchester City this season. Since November 2022, as long as the Spanish midfielder starts, the team has only lost one game; and within two months after he was seriously injured, Manchester City suffered a five-game losing streak, and the prospects for the season collapsed. By March this year, the Blue Moon League had lost nine games, tying Guardiola's single-season league loss record.

Rodri has resumed training now and is even expected to make a comeback before the end of the season, but facing the 2024 Golden Globe winner, Guardiola must be very cautious. You should know that Rodri had just publicly warned about the threat of health due to his injury a few days ago. Manchester City must ensure that he will not repeat the same mistakes, which means that he needs to rotate in time. When he actively asks for a rest, he must be respected more fully. Even if he participates in this summer's new version of the Club World Cup, his playing time should be strictly controlled.

After a long rest, Rodri will be completely renewed physically and mentally next season. As long as he remains healthy and is supported by the support of new generation players, he is fully capable of leading Manchester City to regain the throne.

Look for De Bruyne's successor

Although Manchester City is destined to be busy this summer, the most critical decision is how to replace De Bruyne. The Belgian midfielder sat on the bench in the FA Cup semi-final victory over Nottingham Forest, which once again proves that he is no longer an indispensable person in the most critical battle. The frequent injury troubles and the decline of his ability to ride alone with his super god performance have become important factors for Manchester City to struggle this season.

Although he returned from a five-month-long hamstring tear last season and dragged Guardiola's team across the championship finish line, all old injuries now seem to be starting to retaliate. Although he will be remembered as one of the greatest players in Manchester City's history, most fans know that the time for farewell has come.

Manchester City management had long foreseeed this, with plenty of time to find an ideal successor, Wirtz was the number one candidate, and Gibbs White followed closely behind. Some people even believe that Manchester City should take a two-pronged approach. The painful lessons of the injury wave this season, coupled with the schedule pressure brought by the Club World Cup, all indicate the importance of lineup depth.

De Bruyne's departure will make huge room for salary, enough to accommodate both Wiltz and Gibbs White's salary. Although the transfer fee of the two is expensive, long-term amortization can still comply with the rules of Premier League profit and sustainable development. If any of the talented midfielders can be signed, it will greatly enhance Manchester City's bargaining chips to regain the throne from Liverpool; if they can collect all the two, they will create a nearly unsolvable dominance.

Rekind the hunger

Last season, Manchester City completed an unprecedented four-game championship in English football's 135-year history. Although they are still favorites to win the championship this season, it is not surprising that they have difficulty maintaining the same hunger after making history, not to mention that the team's lineup is almost intact, with only two new players, Savio and the return of Gundogan, last summer.

Although the decline in form after a great success is predictable, Guardiola has never been able to understand the players' slackness and refuses to compromise. He said bluntly last week: "We need to regain our fighting spirit. We will no longer celebrate after scoring the goal. From October last year to January this year, the body language we celebrated completely changed. This small but stupid detail exposed the passion that has always been missing this season.\"

It can be confirmed that Guardiola will never tolerate the team's continued lack of fighting spirit next season, but compared to the heavy pressure of striving for five consecutive championships, regaining the throne may be more inspiring to fight. Guardiola may adopt the "carrot" strategy to inspire the team in innovative ways; or may wave the "stick" to eliminate any players who have lost their desire to win. No matter what method you choose, there is only one goal: to let the team show a fighting spirit that is far beyond this season.

Injected with youth blood

Although some people may say that age is just a number, Salah's amazing performance this season does prove that players can still shine in the top court after thirty years of age, as the competition for the Premier League becomes increasingly fierce, a dynamic lineup is more important than ever. This season, Manchester City has been slowed down by the aging of the lineup.

Data shows that Guardiola's team was 27 years old at the start of the season, ranking first in the Premier League. West Ham United, the oldest in the league, was deeply involved in the relegation zone and ranked 17th, while Everton, the "second-old" in the "straight-old" state, was still only ranked 15th even though he returned to his original state under Moyes. As many as 7 30+ veterans in Manchester City (including players who are over 30 during the season) have set constraints in many aspects: Gundogan, B Seo and Walker (before loaned to Milan) have repeatedly lost in the speed competition, while veterans such as De Bruyne, Aker, and Stones have been with injuries for a long time.

Manchester City has begun to solve this problem in the winter window, signing 4 young players aged 19-25, and young player O'Reilly has brought more vitality after entering the first team. This summer window, the rejuvenation of the lineup still needs to continue. Only in this way can Guardiola create a more dynamic, more resistant to injury and more hungry lineup, and welcome the championship trophy back to the Etihad Stadium.

Reduced Haaland's burden

Manchester City's struggle this season was largely due to excessive dependence on Haaland, when the Norwegian scorer suffered an ankle injury against Bournemouth in the FA Cup at the end of March, people thought other players would be scrambling to fill the fire gap. However, in the six games he was absent, none of the team scored more than two goals, and Kovacic, O'Reilly and Marmush became the only three players to score more than once.

Even though he missed the entire April, Haaland still scored three times the team's second scorer Foden (7 goals). Foden scored 19 league goals last season, but now he is completely different from the version that won various personal awards in the 2023-24 season. Furden is far more than the recession of firepower. B Se, De Bruyne and Doku both scored only 3 goals, Savio and Glalish each scored 1 goal, and Gundogan was even more unsuccessful.

When signing Haaland in 2022, Manchester City chose to build a team around him, ending the "forward-free" experiment in the previous two seasons. In the 2023 triple-winning champion and last season's defending title, Foden, Alvarez, De Bruyne and Gundogan all effectively shared the heavy responsibility of scoring. If you want to retake the throne, the Blue Moon Legion must awaken the scoring instincts of other attackers and build a fire support network for Haaland.