Man City struggle at Man United: Will continued underperformances cost them Champions League qualification?

Are we sure that Manchester City will be back in the Champions League next season? Park the existential threat of 115 charges and simply assess what Pep Guardiola’s side has just delivered in a debt 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. Seven more versions such as this, and at least one of Newcastle United and Aston Villa will jump over the champions.

Usually dominant in possession, a City ended without Erling Haaland-Less this game with nine shots with a combined 0.49 expected goals. That is the third lowest figure they have delivered in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola. In contrast to a victory at West Ham and loss at Arsenal, this is not easily explained as an aberration in a victory, an opportunity in which they encountered an elite team. This was a city that was designed to take pictures for Haaland. Without him they twisted for a reference point.

Outside the box, City can still play for a formula. Their territorial control was absolutely, and on the interval they had completed 224 passes in the United Hal, three and a half times what their opponents had managed on the other side of the field. It was also almost the same story in the last third part, but in the penalty area United has earned their visitors 13 to 10.

City had control but no threat. United has certainly not made it easy for them to get into the penalty area, perfectly prepared to fall back in a 5-4-1 possession with little more than 20 meters that separated their backline from Rasmus Hojlund. On the other hand, that is the kind of challenge that the city constantly intended for almost a decade. They used to find it a pleasure that breaks down those blocks. Then they became a team that struck it with their 6-foot-4 Batting Ram.

A team that was hardwired to get the ball to Haaland had no idea what the attack should be without the Alfa. The departing Kevin De Bruyne returned to the more advanced role he had taken in the pre-Haaland years, but to be effective, he needed runners and threats of the punishment that he drove further. Omar Marmoush was perhaps Sparky, but that was already the fact that Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva have not had the legs to drive into the penalty area like before.

Phil Foden has been given enough opportunities to prove that he can be the threat of scoring that he was so often last season. It has been said for a long time that the England international should be the man to increase De Bruyne on his exit. The time to do this is now, and yet the 24 -year -old still seems comfortable to the periphery. He is perhaps the ruling PFA player of the year, but his triumph was a curious, even given the extensive output of 2023-24. Foden enlightened competitions, but how often did he bow the big ones after his will, like Guardiola needed him until Sunday?

City needed Foden to perform in the absence of Haaland. They got a chance at the start of the second and not much else.

If someone had to enliven this exercise in Ennui, they would wear a red shirt. United set itself the extremely difficult task of performing entire peel counters, often from their own fine to the city. They came in the neighborhood with remarkable frequency, starting with a free kick on the edge of the box, forced by a one -man Alejandro Garnacho Fast Break. A better connection of the young Argentinian on the back post and Diogo Dalot would have had a good assist. Patrick Dorgu also went close, a stabbing shot by Joshua Zirkzee in the second perhaps also broke the draw.

All the best work by United was the excellent Bruno Fernandes. Attacks brighten in life when the ball came to his boot, every pass released at the right time to threaten the city defense. No one in red has brought the ball more often in the last third part, nor created more opportunities or the ball more often. On both sides, he was the only player who seemed to be gambling more to pursue the victory.

Given the perilous situation of the city, it is curious that they did not do that. Aston Villa has gained ground this weekend and has hit a vein of shape that can be compared with some others in the top five. Newcastle has two games in hand, win one of them and they take the place of City in the top five. Put Haaland and Rodri in the XI, and there would be little to fear for the remaining seven games. However, the cavalry does not come, and if this is what the champions look like for the next one and a half months, this can all become pear -shaped.