After Manchester City’s 4-1 defeat to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, Bernardo Silva said that his side were “in a dark place”, although Pep Guardiola did not agree.

The City boss pointed out that his side had played very well for the most part, as they did when exiting the Carabao Cup at Tottenham last week. Guardiola is not blind to City’s issues, though, admitting that they were not good enough in defeat at Bournemouth at the weekend and that they struggled to contain Sporting’s counter-attacks.

Guardiola has been largely satisfied with his side’s efforts in recent matches. Where some saw narrow victories against Fulham, Wolves and Southampton as fortunate, the City manager has been pleased with their fight and desire to get the job done.

But there’s no getting away from the fact that, over the past week, City have lost three times. Add to that the manner of Tuesday’s defeat, plus Bernardo’s comment and there’s a hint of crisis about the club right now. So here’s an inquest into just what has been going wrong.

The injuries

The obvious place to start is the injuries.

Ballon D’Or winner Rodri is the biggest and most obvious loss, compounded by fellow midfielder Kevin De Bruyne missing almost two months. Various other players have dropped out recently, including Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku. The biggest problems flow from there, although in the wake of the Sporting defeat, there have been complaints among supporters about the club’s recruitment — or lack thereof — over the past two years.

(Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Whatever the rights and wrongs of City’s approach to the transfer market, they have been hit with a significant number of injuries at the same time and that has had an obvious knock-on effect.

Combined with the fact that others, like Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden (who is improving week by week), have not been playing at their peak level, it is perhaps no surprise that some of the team’s recent performances, even when victorious, have looked a little underwhelming.

A soft centre

Guardiola’s answer when he spots a weakness in his team, not least when Rodri is not available, is to fill the midfield with ball players and instruct them to make as many passes as possible to wrestle control of the game and build from there. That was exactly what they did in Lisbon on Tuesday night, and with Rico Lewis, Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo and Gundogan, they have players who are very accomplished at keeping the ball.

The problem is that those players are not especially athletic when it comes to winning the ball back or even chasing it back, and that was also evident against Sporting, leaving the defence — missing Lewis because he was pushed up from right-back — exposed.

That is why Tuesday’s game was a curious one. City played well but were also well beaten. In another sense, it was easy to explain: they played well with the ball, did not take their chances and were weak on the break. Fulham, Wolves and Bournemouth, as well as Spurs in the Carabao Cup, have been able to exploit opportunities on transitions.

GO DEEPER

Defensive issues have impacted Manchester City’s week – could they undermine the entire season?

Those issues are exacerbated when those charged with keeping safe control of the ball start to give it away easily, which has also been happening for a while now. Gundogan has yet to rediscover his best form since returning in the summer, Lewis is at times imprecise and Kovacic — the main fulcrum of the team in Rodri’s absence — embodies City’s recent form in that he does many things well within matches but can be very easily beaten, and fail to recover, as Sporting’s second goal highlighted.

(Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

This trend has had some fans crying out for a different approach, which results in something of a vicious circle. Guardiola’s solution to these problems is more passes, more control, and he has a sound supporting argument: if City are vulnerable to fast breaks, then why not try to limit them as much as possible?

Some will argue that if the fast breaks are not being limited, why don’t the team fight fire with fire and try to be a bit more direct and play with more pace in the middle? That is a debate for another day but, in short, when most teams sit deep against City and do not allow them space to play, there is not really anywhere to break into.

The shorter and blunter answer is that we already know that Guardiola just will not consider it.

Lack of goals

This is quite the statement about the Premier League’s second-highest scorers (behind Spurs) but they do seem to be lacking goals, which is something that Guardiola acknowledged on Tuesday. “We have to do a lot to score,” he said.

The thing about the start of the season, when, in fairness, City looked very good without Rodri, was that Erling Haaland was breaking records left, right and centre, so very few people noticed that hardly anybody else was scoring, or needed to score.

John Stones has recorded some important last-gasp strikes, Josko Gvardiol is doing his bit from the back and Kovacic has contributed — but too often in matches, there is a lack of bite in the final third, which was the case on Tuesday night. And when there’s the frailty in midfield mentioned in the previous section, it adds up to the kind of problems we are seeing.

Haaland has failed to score in six of his last 10 appearances for City in all competitions (Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

On the wings, City have players who are superb in bringing the ball up to and into the box — but who lack an end product inside it. In fairness to Savinho, he could have had three excellent assists against Southampton only for others to squander the chances, and the Brazilian has started his City career well but at the moment he is not a goal threat — and neither is Doku.

Grealish is out of the picture again but, by his own admission, has never been a goalscorer, while Matheus Nunes is playing well of late on the left wing but rarely brings goals.

City have scored four times from corners in the Premier League this season, which is more than any other team, although they have also taken the most: 98. Their conversion rate from corners is the sixth-best in the league, which is respectable, but four goals from 98 corners ties into the idea that they have to do a lot to score, especially when rivals such as Arsenal spend so much time and effort on set plays.

It does feel like City are in a gloomy place at the moment, but that comment from Bernardo is reminiscent of a similarly worrying message from Gundogan, 18 months ago. “I feel like something is missing, something’s off,” he said in January 2023. “At the minute, there’s a special recipe missing — performances, the desire and hunger is not as in recent years.” And that season ended pretty well.

It would be a stretch to suggest another treble is around the corner but that Gundogan quote should help to put things into perspective. The best way for City to do that is to put things right against Brighton on Saturday evening.

With Tottenham and Liverpool coming up after the November international break, City are going to need to tighten up in defence and midfield and start taking some more chances when they arrive.

It’s rare for a mini-crisis to develop into a major problem at City, but this is a side who are more vulnerable than we’ve seen them for some time.

GO DEEPER

The Briefing: Sporting Lisbon 4 Manchester City 1 – Gyokeres upstages Haaland in Ruben Amorim’s farewell home game

(Top photo: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy has never been a supporter of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and LIV Golf. In fact, at times he’s been the most vocal critic among PGA Tour players, saying last year that “If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on Earth, I would retire.”

His stance has softened with time, however, and the four-time majors champion made a candid observation speaking to reporters Wednesday ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, saying that Donald Trump winning the presidential election could “clear the way” for a deal between the PGA Tour and the PIF, the Saudi sovereign fund that owns and operates LIV Golf.

McIlroy was responding to a question about an unconfirmed report in a British tabloid that a deal had already been struck.

“He might be able to [close a deal],” McIlroy said of Trump. “He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved too.

“I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows?”

The U.S. Department of Justice has long been viewed as an impediment to a deal because government officials have expressed concern that a foreign investment of this magnitude could violate antitrust laws. Negotiations have dragged on for a year and a half, but could accelerate under a Trump administration.

Earlier this week on the “Let’s Go!” podcast with Jim Gray and Bill Belichick, Trump said, “It would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done” between the PGA Tour and the PIF.

When the LIV tour launched in 2022 and siphoned off several of the top golfers on the PGA Tour, McIlroy accused some who defected from the PGA Tour of greed. Days after the merger was announced, he said, “I still hate LIV. Like, I hate LIV. Like, I hope it goes away.”

LIV Golf hasn’t gone away. Neither has Trump.

In the three-year history of LIV Golf, six tournaments have been held at Trump’s golf courses. The private equity firm of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, received a reported $2 billion investment from the PIF.

McIlroy is now resigned to the fact that LIV Golf not only is here to stay but that the merger with the PGA Tour is inevitable.

“I think, at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV Golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realize that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods’ position,” McIlroy told the “Stick to Football” podcast in January.

After a 23-22 loss to the lowly Carolina Panthers that extended their losing streak to seven games, the New Orleans Saints on Monday fired head coach Dennis Allen.

Allen followed Robert Saleh, formerly of the New York Jets, as the second head coach fired this season. Allen posted an 18-25 record in 2 1/2 seasons in New Orleans. It’s the second time in his career he failed to make it through his third season at the helm of a team. In 2014, the Oakland Raiders fired Allen after just four games of his third year with them. For his career, Allen is 26-53 as a head coach.

Allen will not be the last NFL head coach fired this season. Through nine weeks of action, nine of the NFL’s 32 teams have only two victories apiece. Fifteen teams have losing records.

Time is quickly evaporating, and without sudden rebounds, some of these losing teams will likely follow the lead of the Jets and Saints and turn their attention to the future.

Here’s a look at the coaches seemingly on the hot seat as the second half of the NFL regular season kicks off.

Jacksonville’s mind-blowing decline continues. Pederson and his team seem headed toward double-digit losses just two seasons after winning the AFC South and reaching the divisional round of the playoffs, where they fell 27-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Pederson and the Jaguars went 1-1 on their London trip in Weeks 6 and 7 but returned to the United States and promptly lost games to Green Bay and Philadelphia. Trevor Lawrence’s regression continues, Jacksonville’s defense on Sunday surrendered 400-plus yards for the fifth time this season and the Jaguars are minus-7 in the turnover department (third worst). Next up? A game at home versus the 6-2 Minnesota Vikings, followed by a trip to the 7-1 Detroit Lions. It feels like a matter of when and not if owner Shad Khan pulls the plug, again.

Antonio Pierce fired his offensive coordinator and two more assistants after just nine games on his staff. (Reggie Hildred / Imagn Images)

A year after Pierce took over at midseason for a floundering Josh McDaniels and propelled the Raiders to a feisty 5-4 finish, the former linebacker appears to have lost his touch already. Game management is a huge challenge for the rookie head coach. He has flip-flopped on quarterbacks twice now and on Sunday fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello after just nine games on his staff.

This roster isn’t well constructed, but Pierce appears to be in over his head. It would be a surprise to see him make it to Year 2. If he doesn’t, keep an eye in the offseason on former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who has a strong relationship with new Raiders minority owner Tom Brady. Vrabel is now a coaching and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns.

Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns (2-7)

Deshaun Watson’s inability to regain his on-field mojo was apparently only part of Cleveland’s struggles. The Browns have regressed on just about every front in 2024. A week after Jameis Winston provided a spark in an upset of the Baltimore Ravens, the Browns came crashing back to Earth in a 27-10 loss to the L.A. Chargers. Stefanski turned play-calling duties over to Ken Dorsey before that win over Baltimore, but three turnovers and a sputtering rushing attack held the Browns in check against the Chargers. Meanwhile, their defense also continues to underperform.

The Browns made a second-half playoff surge with a backup quarterback (Joe Flacco) last season, but that seems highly unlikely this year. Watson is out for the remainder of the season with an Achilles injury, but given the Browns’ apparent commitment to him despite his struggles, they could opt for a coaching change.

Scoop City Newsletter

Advertisement

Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.

Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.

Sign Up

Team owner John Mara said last month that he remains committed to Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen, but as Daniel Jones’ ineptitude continues and as the losses continue to mount, it’s hard to envision him sticking with that stance. Especially with running back Saquon Barkley (the one that got away) delivering jaw-dropping highlights just down the road with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jerry Jones continues to say he’s committed to McCarthy, but McCarthy remains a lame-duck coach and his team continues to underperform in virtually every phase of the game. Jones opened up the checkbook for Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, but the Cowboys’ offense has gotten worse and things will only get uglier with Prescott now out multiple weeks with a hamstring injury. With or without Prescott, however, McCarthy lacks the innovation to fix this operation. As the embarrassments and losses continue to mount, you have to wonder how much more of this Jones can take.

Matt Eberflus’ Bears are losing pace in the NFC North to the Lions, Vikings and Packers. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)

He entered the season on thin ice, but Eberflus hoped Caleb Williams could spearhead a revival in Chicago. Instead, the coach is overseeing another rocky season that feels destined to end poorly. A shaky start preceded some encouraging developments and a three-game win streak. But then came the embarrassing Hail Mary loss in Washington, followed by Sunday’s flat performance against Arizona — a game in which the Bears failed to score a touchdown despite having Williams and a talented collection of offensive players. Eberflus seemingly is losing control of the team, as his players show signs of poor discipline and professionalism. Hope is fading in the Windy City, and Eberflus might be running out of time and excuses.

GO DEEPER

Caleb Williams’ development at stake as Bears coaching staff searches for answers

Advertisement

Of course, these coaches aren’t alone with their disappointing bodies of work. Things haven’t played out in a favorable manner this season for the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel (2-6), New England Patriots’ Jerod Mayo (2-7), Carolina Panthers’ Dave Canales (2-7) or Tennessee Titans’ Brian Callahan (2-6).

It seems like McDaniel will receive the benefit of the doubt, given that his team’s struggles can be tied to Tua Tagovailoa’s four-game concussion-induced absence. If anyone’s seat in Miami is heating up, it could be that of general manager Chris Grier, who neglected to acquire an adequate backup for Miami’s injury-prone starting quarterback. Had Grier given McDaniel a serviceable veteran, the Dolphins possibly could have tread water until Tagovailoa returned.

Meanwhile, despite firing Frank Reich after just 11 games last season, David Tepper will likely give Canales more time. If Bryce Young can build on the shreds of success displayed in Sunday’s win, Canales, Young and the Panthers could enter the offseason with a degree of optimism. Given that Robert Kraft hand-picked Mayo as the Patriots’ coach-in-waiting late in Bill Belichick’s legendary tenure, it seems like the former New England linebacker will be afforded additional time to grow into his role while the Patriots further fortify the roster around Drake Maye. The same goes for Callahan, who is overseeing a roster in the midst of a rebuild that needs a better starting quarterback than Will Levis before he can truly showcase his abilities as a coach.

(Top photos of Brian Daboll and Mike McCarthy: Brad Penner / Imagn Images and Sam Hodde / Getty Images)