Manchester City entered the first international break of the Premier League season in unfamiliar territory. Currently languishing in the 14th place having accumulated 4 points from 3 games, Pep Guardiola will know that his team need to bounce back immediately, to avoid the risk of falling further behind.
A number of teams have strengthened considerably and look to be well set to challenge the usual suspects at the top of the table.
The Sky Blues have the players and the manager to turn this around but a number of them need to pull up their socks. Given this could be Pep’s last season at the club, he will prefer leaving on a high instead of exiting under a cloud of disgruntlement.
Here we will take a look at 3 players whose return to form is of utmost importance to Manchester City.
Kevin de Bruyne
Simply put, the Belgian genius makes Manchester City click. His outrageous passing and running coupled with his intelligent reading of the game, help Pep’s vision translate on the pitch.
He got off to an excellent start against Wolves registering a goal and an assist and running the show for his side. But his form has tailed off since then. De Bruyne has looked frustrated on the pitch with every passing match. He has not executed his inventive passing as well as we have come to expect and with Jesus and Aguero missing, he has failed to get on the assists chart as well, since.
He has spoken of the need for a break but it is something City are unlikely to afford him given the lack of overall form of the team.
It speaks volumes of his talent that despite being out of form, he has still looked like one of City’s best players. And that is exactly whey the Sky Blues need him to click.
Bernardo Silva
The Portuguese midfielder has been out of form for a long time now. After an excellent 2018-19 campaign, he was expected to be undroppable alongside Ederson and Kevin de Bruyne. But Silva has lacked the same bite and energy which had revitalised City’s midfield.
(Photo by Paul Ellis – Pool/Getty Images)
And now with the exit of David Silva, City lack experience in midfield with Rodri and Foden struggling to aid Kevin to get a grip on things. City need Bernardo’s running and dribbling to add dynamism in advanced midfield and an in-form Silva alongside De Bruyne will ease the burden on the forward line to a large extent.
Benjamin Mendy
An obvious choice on this list but the regularity with which he makes appearances on these is certainly cause of concern for Manchester City. The big-money signing from Monaco has simply failed to get going for the Sky Blues. Other than a handful of matches right at the start where he was assisting for fun, the Frenchman has been shockingly underwhelming.
His frequent injuries have played a huge part in his decline but his amateur defensive nous has seen him roundly criticised. He was spared the axe in the summer and is on his final chance to prove himself useful at a club where his position remains one of the few areas of concern.