Mancheter City have shown a ruthless streak when taking the lead in games – breaking the deadlock in 28/38 league outings last season. They’ve won 27 of those 28 games, boasting 2.93 points per game on average when they score first, but Daniel Storey of iNews believes Pep Guardiola hasn’t managed to mentally prepare his side for going behind.
City fell behind in 8 of their 38 league games last season and only managed two wins (25%). They are statistically more likely to draw (3/8) or lose (3/8) than they are to come out on top (2/8). Storey called this a ‘lingering issue’ for Guardiola that he’s yet to solve, so could make the difference in the title race?
Storey wrote: ‘The only lingering issue is the tendency of City to occasionally be stumped having fallen behind, whether that be a mental or tactical issue. It may well have been exorcised by the late-season comebacks against West Ham and Aston Villa that secured City the title, but there is still a suspicion that conceding can cause a mini-meltdown.’
City did come from two goals down to beat Villa 3-2 and win the Premier League title on the final day of the season, but those comebacks are extremely rare. Guardiola’s men aren’t used to going behind in games and are more likely to drop points if they concede first, so can Pep train his side to have more character this season?
They had little fightback against Liverpool in the Community Shield final too, so they must be more adaptable.
In other news, Pep Guardiola tipped to drop Jack Grealish against West Ham