City Off To Flying Start But Still Need Work In Window

This is a guest post from Steve.

Ahead of the opening fixture away to Wolves on Monday night, many were worried about City’s pre-season, or lack of one. There had been multiple issues related to Covid-19, with Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan testing positive in the days leading up to the trip to Molineux, whilst last season’s Champions League exploits meant that City returned late to training after a short break, and had gone without any pre-season friendlies in the build up to the new campaign.

On top of that, only two new faces had been added to the Blues’ squad – Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres – and despite the quality of that pair, many felt that more signings were required, especially if City were to fight back at Liverpool and reclaim the Premier League title.

Ahead of the season, many betting firms and top casino sites had City down as favourites to lift the Premier League trophy – but loyal supporters were less confident in the squad’s ability to bounce back.

David Silva’s departure had been on the horizon for a period of time, as had defensive issues which saw the Blues make a number of costly mistakes last season, not to mention the injury issues which have affected the likes of Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo – yet many fans question whether Pep Guardiola has done enough business over the transfer window to position City as title victors.

Many would argue that another established centre-back to partner Laporte is a must-have, whilst the left-back position is still up for grabs, with Benjamin Mendy, Cancelo and Oleks Zinchenko expected to share the burden of that role. In midfield, much will be expected of Phil Foden to step in to Silva’s shoes, even if Guardiola currently appears to view him as an option out wide on the right, whilst the onus will be on Gabriel Jesus to replace Aguero’s goals with the Argentine striker set for a spell on the sidelines.

Anyone familiar with online poker will understand Guardiola’s straight bat in press conferences and his reluctance to put pressure on City’s board to splash out further, nor undermine the players at his disposal, but few would be surprised if City were to bring in more new faces before the deadline.

It promises to be an action-packed season ahead for the Blues and it began with a superb display at Wolves to grab the three points, but that performance and result, as impressive as they were, should not obscure the fact that more work is required before City can truly feel confident in their ambition to dethrone Liverpool.