A defiant Ruben Dias says Manchester City will welcome all doubters as they bid to overcome a five-point table deficit and win an unprecedented fifth-straight Premier League title.
“Please doubt us,” Dias said Monday while in an appearance to promote an anti-bullying campaign in England, later saying that City’s “legacy is at stake.”
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City lost a fourth-straight game across all competitions on Saturday versus Brighton & Hove Albion, the first time in manager Pep Guardiola’s career that he’s overseen that many losses in a row.
Guardiola said City needed to “clean our heads” during the break, and he’s definitely hoping for health, too. City have been missing a boatload of top players including a long-term injury to Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, a recently-ended extended absence for Kevin De Bruyne, and other injuries for Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, Manuel Akanji, and Nathan Ake.
Ruben Dias — Explains why Man City’s ‘legacy at stake’
Dias has only played 45 minutes of the four-game skid, departing at halftime of the League Cup loss to Spurs before missing PL setbacks to Bournemouth and Brighton as well as a Champions League loss at Ruben Amorim’s Sporting Lisbon.
The 27-year-old says City are not looking for scapegoats, rather issuing a rallying cry.
“Always what matters is how you bounce back from these moments, and that’s why our team has won so much because in moments of difficulty, the characters come up and we stay together,” Dias said.
Dias’ absences last season were well-navigated by City, who had seven wins and a draw in the eight matches he missed in Premier League play, but this season the Citizens have also been without Rodri in front of him and a number of members in the back line.
Ake’s played just 75 total minutes in Premier League play, while John Stones has played just one of the club’s last 270 PL minutes. Kyle Walker’s missed five starts, and Akanji is currently fighting a reporter adductor injury.
Dias, Akanji, Josko Gvardiol, and Rico Lewis have been City’s most-used defenders this season, followed by Walker.
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey had yet to be in a Man City matchday squad entering this season. He made his debut off the bench against Spurs in the League Cup on Oct. 30, turned 19 years old on Nov. 4, and then played 180 minutes versus Sporting Lisbon and Brighton.
Yeah, Guardiola’s been making recipes without key ingredients.
What’s next for Man City? Can they rebound post-Rodri injury?
With all these injuries, City’s season outlook has not changed that much.
City are five points back of Liverpool in the Premier League, and still have both season fixtures to come with the Reds (Nov. 30 and Feb. 22).
They are two points back of a bye in the Champions League knockout rounds, but have a straightforward path to a playoff spot if not the bye with remaining league fixtures set with Feyenoord (H), Juventus (A), PSG (A), and Club Brugge (H). It will be late January before the last two fixtures.
They are out of the League Cup, so that’s one trophy off the table and the FA Cup won’t start until January.
The Rodri injury is certainly the biggest one. City are 3W-1D-2L in Premier League play since he was hurt early in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal (Call it 3-2-2 if you like, as City did lead Arsenal 1-0 when Rodri limped off).
With all of City’s injuries, the club is still out-attempting opponents 213-87 in Premier League play, they are 2nd in expected goals, and sixth in xGA. So this isn’t about attack and — if it is — consider that Kevin De Bruyne has barely played and Erling Haaland is slightly under-performing his xG (12.19-12.00).
Reports say City may be willing to pay Martin Zubimendi’s release clause in January to help fill Rodri’s shoes, though the Spain midfielder turned down Liverpool in the summer and would have to be open to a City move.
The 25-year-old would be a fantastic candidate to slot into Guardiola’s system, but even so there are few ready-made peers for Rodri. Players like Fede Valverde and Declan Rice rarely come available, and Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan are more than capable of providing makeshift cover.
So it’s more about other injuries that could stop City from defending its Premier League title. The League Cup exit means less tax on the City squad, and at this point you’d be on Guardiola to play second choice sides in the early rounds of the FA Cup.
Yet his Champions League prioritization plans may have changed with the Sporting Lisbon loss. City have Feyenood away in between a brutal PL back-to-back with Spurs and Liverpool coming out of the international break. Guardiola may have opted to take it easy on Dec. 11 in Turin against Juventus with a Manchester derby the following weekend, but now a bye week is in question.
Dropping PL points over their next two fixtures — with one or three going the way of Liverpool — could leave City 8-10 points behind Liverpool midway through December 1.
Zubimendi can’t arrive to fix that, and so perhaps the most important people to City’s title hopes are those that can make sure their stars are as fit as possible by the end of this international break.
