Manchester City simply must find a midfielder this month as a band-aid solution isn’t sustainable | OneFootball

Manchester City threw away a 2-goal lead during the latter stages of their 2-all draw with Brentford at the GTech Community Stadium last night. Although a draw was probably a fair result based on the balance of play of the game, Pep Guardiola’s side will be furious at themselves for ending up in that position at the final whistle. There are a host of storylines to emerge from the game. But perhaps the biggest one is that Manchester City simply must sign a midfielder this month. A band-aid solution to City’s biggest simply won’t do.

Last night Pep Guardiola named Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in midfield. Phil Foden also drifted centrally throughout the game. While on paper, that midfield is more than capable, they lack athleticism, pace and energy. It isn’t an issue when Manchester City dominate possession and control games. But as we saw last night, when they aren’t able to do that, it becomes a major issue. Time and time again last night Brentford got at Manchester City’s defence. Eventually, the damn wall broke as Pep Guardiola’s side surrendered a two-goal lead late on at the GTech Community Stadium. Perhaps if Manchester City had a proper defensive midfielder it may have helped them in last night’s match.

But there is another issue that is plaguing Manchester City’s midfield and their squad in general. That is fatigue. During the latter stages of last night’s match, Brentford appeared to run over the top of Pep Guardiola’s side. Fatigue now looks like it is becoming an issue for Manchester City. Phil Foden spoke about this following the game. Speaking with Football on TNT he explained: “We just looked tired at the end, the last 20, 30 minutes,. We looked leggy and they put the pressure on and put longer balls into the box. We didn’t cope with the physicality at the end.”

Last night’s match showed that Manchester City simply must sign a midfielder.

A report from Sam Lee for the Athletic indicated that Manchester City could use John Stones and Manuel Akanji as a band-aid solution to their midfield issues if they can’t sign a midfielder this month. But to put it bluntly that isn’t sustainable. Pep Guardiola has been using a band-aid solution to cover Rodri’s absence since City’s midfield general went down with an ACL injury in September. It hasn’t worked as planned as Mateo Kovacic isn’t a number 6, nor is Ilkay Gundogan and in the case of Gundogan his legs are nearly gone. Bernardo Silva has been a warrior in midfield but he looks fatigued. A stop gap solution of Akanji and Stones appears doomed to fail. Both players have battled injuries and in the case of Akanji fatigue as well all season. So while on paper the idea of Stones and Akanji slotting into midfield sounds practical the reality is a different story.

Simply put Manchester City must sign a midfielder this month. They have around 3 weeks to find one in the January transfer window. A band-aid solution won’t do as fatigue is becoming an issue for Pep Guardiola’s squad. They need an energetic midfielder who can also fit into Pep Guardiola’s system. Who that could be remains to be seen. But after watching last night’s match they simply must sign another midfielder. The remainder of this season will be a battle for Pep Guardiola’s squad if Manchester City don’t.