Pep Guardiola's Manchester City has always been synonymous with absolute control, but a recent statistic has left fans intrigued.
The team now boasts a bizarre record in the Premier League: the inexplicable difficulty in managing leads.
Curiously, Manchester City would be the LEADER with a significant advantage if all games ended at halftime.
The game against Tottenham on Sunday (1) added to this unfortunate list. When referee Rob Jones blew the halftime whistle, the "Citizens" were dominating all actions in the English capital.
What seemed like a certain victory, however, turned into a tactical nightmare. In football, a 2-0 score is often called a "dangerous lead" because it creates a dilemma: risk going for a third goal or fall back to protect the advantage?
Manchester City did neither. The second half revealed an apathetic team, allowing Tottenham to grow into the game and challenge the defensive solidity that is a trademark of the Guardiola era.
This bizarre fluctuation raises an alarm in Manchester. The inability to "kill off" controlled matches raises questions about the emotional or physical fatigue of the squad at crucial moments of the season.
The City, which was once an ice-cold machine, now seems vulnerable to comebacks that seemed impossible a few months ago.
The Premier League appreciates the balance, but Guardiola will certainly have a lot of work to do to explain what happened in London.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
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