In conversation with ESPN, Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has dissected the club’s struggles this season and attempted to provide context to what he believes is an inevitable drop in results after years of unparalleled success under Pep Guardiola.
City welcome Crystal Palace to the Etihad Stadium for a lunch-time kick off on Saturday afternoon – the first of their final seven games of the Premier League campaign in a bid to secure UEFA Champions League football next term.
Major changes are in the offing for the Premier League champions in the summer to challenge on all fronts next season, with many first-team stars expected to leave the club at the end of the season after Kevin De Bruyne confirmed this will be his last year in Manchester.
Ilkay Gundogan – who captained Manchester City to a treble in their historic 2022-23 season – returned to the club last summer after a year with Barcelona and the 34-year-old has reflected on his side’s struggles this season in an interview with ESPN.
“I feel in a lot of games, maybe we gave a bit too much importance to tactics and didn’t really pay attention much on behaviour of ourselves. Having that determination, desire, aggression. Simple things that are part of the game, but maybe sometimes you just think too much about positioning or whatever. You might forget other things that should be normal,” Gundogan said.
Gundogan has failed to replicate his heroics from the treble campaign over the course of this season and the German – who was Guardiola’s first signing following the latter’s appointment as Manchester City manager in 2016 – could yet lead the Blues to domestic silverware.
He added: “In the last few games I see a certain change, especially that very uncomfortable game against Bournemouth in the FA Cup. The way they play – aggressive, physically strong – and the way we behave, especially after conceding, it was unbelievable.
“Maybe people don’t give much credit to that [togetherness] because people, especially in our society and also football society, tend to credit more a beautiful goal, beautiful assist, beautiful actions.”
Gundogan reckons a long time of sustained success at the highest level has taken an inevitable toll on the group and that a drop off was always going to happen as some point as several of Guardiola’s stalwarts have hit their prime at Manchester City.
“They don’t credit anymore so much working for the team, ...
