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Pep Guardiola has had troublesome occasions at earlier than. It is 9 and a half years since he landed on the Etihad Stadium — that a lot is inevitable.
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The Champions League has thrown up a number of of them: a 2018 quarterfinal ransacking at Anfield towards , an abject collapse on the identical stage towards Lyon two years later and the limp 1-0 remaining loss to in Porto in 2021.
Again in his first season in cost in 2016/17, an imbalanced Metropolis squad shipped 4 objectives at and , and it briefly regarded as if the maelstrom of English soccer would possibly subsume the celebrated and Bayern Munich coach.
As we all know now, six Premier League titles within the house of seven seasons adopted, together with . In 2022/23, Metropolis gained the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble, .
Guardiola’s place within the pantheon is safe and people achievements meant he was in a position to take in a wretched run in the course of final season when Metropolis gained simply one among 13 matches throughout all competitions. That set in movement a hasty rebuild of the first-team squad, and Metropolis have spent virtually £450 million ($604m) on new gamers over the previous 12 months, whereas membership greats similar to Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker and Ederson have left the stage.
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In any case that, a 3-1 loss to Bodo/Glimt, a workforce with no Champions League win of their historical past, will not be actually the place Metropolis must be touchdown.
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Why loss to Bodo/Glimt may be worst Man Metropolis recreation below Pep Guardiola
Metropolis’s humiliation within the Arctic Circle can be unhealthy sufficient in sub-zero isolation. What makes this arguably Guardiola’s worst defeat is his workforce threw up one other contender simply 4 days in the past, when a 2-0 defeat to Man United within the derby at Previous Trafford massively flattered a completely incompetent displaying.
As was the case throughout final season’s hunch, Guardiola is within the grips of an harm disaster in defence. Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, John Stones and Matheus Nunes are all out. Nathan Ake was not match sufficient to come back off the bench in Bodo, whilst teen Max Alleyne struggled and Rodri was despatched off. Alleyne performed for the fifth recreation in succession after being recalled from a mortgage spell at Championship membership Watford.
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Nevertheless, there was nonetheless greater than sufficient expertise on this expensively rebuilt Metropolis workforce to have the ability to navigate this recreation, to not point out a United facet that had been at such a low ebb. However for a succession of offside objectives disallowed in each video games, the scorelines towards Metropolis might have been large.
Listed here are a number of of the foundation points of their disaster.
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Erling Haaland purpose drought
Erling Haaland headed again to his homeland after a listless displaying within the Manchester derby, the place he was substituted 10 minutes earlier than fulltime. He has now scored simply as soon as — a penalty towards Brighton & Hove Albion on January 7 — in his previous eight matches.
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The issue for Metropolis when Haaland drops beneath his superhuman scoring ranges, by no means thoughts drops to a stage as painfully abnormal as this, is he does not do sufficient else to be something aside from an issue.
The 25-year-old has improved his all-round play since becoming a member of Metropolis in 2022, however he’s by no means prone to improve any slick build-up from the strains of Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki. In a workforce lacking different senior gamers on account of harm, Haaland’s primary contribution — aside from lacking a pair of routine possibilities earlier than halftime — was to flap his arms round and complain to teammates. He must do a lot, significantly better than no matter that is he is serving up proper now.
Lack of management
The defence and Guardiola’s chosen defensive set-up (extra on that beneath) clearly misses Dias massively. The Portugal centre-back is Metropolis’s most evident on-field chief and so they are likely to wilt with out him round.
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Membership captain Bernardo Silva was suspended for the journey to Norway, that means Rodri had the armband. The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner’s two yellow playing cards inside a minute simply after Cherki had pulled a purpose again was about as far-off from management and taking accountability for a scenario as you possibly can think about.
Younger Alleyne was culpable for Bodo’s first two objectives and Metropolis had been unable to shut ranks round him. At 24 years and 84 days, this was Metropolis’s youngest-ever Champions League lineup by way of common age, and it confirmed. Phil Foden, 25, the one-time boy surprise, is a senior man in all of this. Having received again in the direction of his player-of-the-season type of 2023/24 earlier within the marketing campaign, the England midfielder has gone lacking over latest weeks to an unacceptable diploma.
Guardiola’s techniques
So usually Metropolis’s difference-maker, their supervisor’s schemes look to be holding them again proper now.
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Earlier high-profile Champions League defeats have been attributed to Guardiola making an attempt one thing out of the abnormal on the massive event and falling flat on his face. This season, even once they get spectacular outcomes similar to a 2-1 win at Actual Madrid, Metropolis’s go-to setup seems extremely weak.
Constructing on the ploy that received Metropolis out of bother final season, which consisted of packing central areas with midfielder schemers and counting on full-backs to supply width, Guardiola has usually performed a 3-1-6 form in possession this season, with a type of full-backs becoming a member of that stacked frontline.
The issue is, if Metropolis don’t overwhelm the opposition defence and their passing within the remaining third will not be on-point — funnily sufficient, it wasn’t on Bodo/Glimt’s synthetic floor — they’re massively uncovered. Much more so when you think about the ‘1’ is Rodri, constructing his means again from a health nightmare.
In Bodo, each full-backs — Rayan Ait-Nouri taking part in on the fallacious facet, and Nico O’Reilly — had been becoming a member of assaults, leaving Alleyne and Abdukodir Khusanov scrambling any time the opposition turned over possession.
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Marc Guehi’s arrival comes at a useful time, however Guardiola can be throwing the England centre-back to the wolves (Metropolis play Wolves this weekend, pun perhaps meant?) on this configuration. As soon as Nico Gonzalez returns to health, he ought to play alongside Rodri in an all-Spanish double-pivot in an try to revive order.
Pep Guardiola response to Bodo/Glimt defeat
“We’ve got to come back again – the outcomes since 2025 will not be good, by way of the Premier League and now in the present day,” Guardiola mentioned at his post-match information convention, the weekend defeat to United having adopted three successive Premier League attracts.
“However we go ahead, Wolves after which Galatasaray. We’ve got the sensation the whole lot goes fallacious, the small print, however we’ve to attempt to change that. I don’t have any doubts on this competitors, nothing is taken as a right, that’s for positive.
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“United beat us and had been higher. At the moment [Bodo/Glimt] had momentum. However the workforce was there and we created – on the transition they’re actually good.”
Guardiola felt the efficiency was an enchancment upon the defeat at Previous Trafford and praised his workforce’s combating spirit after Rodri’s pink card.
“We fought 10 v 11. We’ve got to alter the dynamic for the subsequent recreation towards Wolves and towards Galatasaray,” he added.
“We had been flat towards United, however not in the present day. We don’t have Savinho, Jeremy [Doku], our wingers. In different departments, we’ve gamers not right here and they’d give us extra consistency.”
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Eagle-eyed observers will observe Doku was an unused substitute on Tuesday, however it isn’t unknown for Guardiola to place gamers who aren’t match on the bench for use very sparingly if required for a selected scenario. Clearly, the Belgium winger was in no state to play a full half in Bodo.
Will Man Metropolis qualify for Champions League knockouts?
Metropolis remained fourth within the standings after the Bodo/Glimt defeat, however had been only one level forward of Liverpool in ninth.
Relying on outcomes elsewhere on matchweek seven, they’re prone to have to beat Galatasaray at dwelling on January 28 to win a spot within the high eight and a route straight into the Spherical of 16.
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The place are Bodo/Glimt from?
Bodo/Glimt are based mostly in Bodo, which is the second largest city in Northern Norway and has a inhabitants of round 55,000 individuals. Situated above the Arctic Circle, it’s greater than 500 miles north of Norway’s capital metropolis, Oslo.
Based as Fotballklubben Glimt in 1916, the four-time champions of Norway’s Eliteserien modified its title to Bodo/Glimt in 1948.
They play their dwelling video games at Aspmyra Stadion, which has a capability of simply 8,270 spectators and makes use of synthetic turf because of the excessive winter climate within the area.