Great teams project an aura that makes them hard to beat and instill an expectation of eventual recovery after dips in form. Manchester City produced a 10-game unbeaten run after early-March defeat, yet key losses revealed persistent shortcomings. Matches exposed offensive flatness and defensive openness, including a 4-3 Club World Cup defeat and early-season signs against Wolves. Guardiola's high defensive line creates inherent susceptibility to direct balls played in behind when the press fails. Recent Spurs goals highlighted that vulnerability and also underlined worrying goalkeeper errors and risky ball-playing decisions under pressure.
Even when they hit a bad run, the expectation is always that at some point they will rediscover their form. To some extent, Manchester City did that last season. As miserable as much of the campaign was, after losing to Nottingham Forest at the beginning of March, they put together a run of 10 games unbeaten and ended up third even if defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final demonstrated the shortcomings that remain.
That game showcased City's flatness at times going forward but also a strange openness at the back that was apparent again in the 4-3 defeat to Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup. Pep Guardiola sides, given how high their line is, will always be susceptible to direct balls played in behind them if something goes awry with the press; it's an inevitable part of the risk-reward of that style of play.
It was just that flaw that led to Richarlison breaking the offside trap and crossing for Brennan Johnson to open the scoring for Spurs at the Etihad on Saturday. Spurs's second goal, though, was just as worrying: goalkeeper James Trafford played an inexplicable pass to Nico Gonzalez's wrong foot under pressure at the top of his own box. It wasn't an error of execution so much as one of conception.
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