Good morning, here are the Manchester City headlines for Tuesday, 7 July.
Stats tell sorry tale
Manchester City have lagged well behind Liverpool in the Premier League this season. Pep Guardiola and his staff will soon begin sifting through the debris of a disappointing season in which City currently trail the new champions by a staggering 23 points.
And Stuart Brennan, our Manchester City writer, has identified some of the numbers which might be of biggest concern to the manager.
Chief among them are those which directly hint at a slackening off in City’s style of play: pressing, chance creation, beating teams into submission with ceaseless waves of attack.
Expected goals are up, but that shows a clinical edge has been missing this year. At the other end of the pitch, the xG of teams City face is also up, highlighting a season of errors and giving greater chances to the opposition. Meanwhile both pass completion and overall possession are marginally down, two hallmarks of a Guardiola team.
Garcia reveals hurt
Manchester City suffered a ninth league defeat of the season against Southampton when Che Adams’ long-range strike was enough to settle a game.
The tale of the 90 minutes was rather more detailed though, especially from a City attacking perspective, as an array of chances were spurned.
Defender Eric Garcia says the dressing room atmosphere was a disappointed one at the end of the game, with the squad feeling hard done-by.
“We deserved more," he said. “We need to watch the game back, but I think we have done everything apart from be lucky and score a goal.
“Any defeat hurts, but this one probably hurts a bit more because of everything we have done in the game.”
Top targets for City
It’s no secret that City want a new central defender this summer as Guardiola plots the best way to wrest back the title in 2020/21.
And reports suggest the club have identified two Serie A defenders who top their wanted list, depending on how circumstances play out over the coming weeks.
Kalidou Koulibaly is the top target for City, but the Napoli centre-back has a price tag almost as big as his reputation.
So if City’s European ban is upheld, they’ll move on to the second name, Milan Skriniar of Inter Milan. The Independent’s Miguel Delaney suggests the Serie A club would be interested in a swap deal involving City striker Sergio Aguero.
