Man City have lost their cutting edge – but that isn’t Pep Guardiola’s biggest problem

This squad are now in their fourth year under Guardiola and have seen their intensity drop. Does their manager have it in him to get it back?

Pep Guardiola is struggling to recreate City’s form of last season (Getty)

It was over an hour after the final whistle at Tottenham Hotspur when a slightly frazzled Pep Guardiola finally emerged from the dressing room. He told broadcasters he was talking to his wife, but there was naturally a bit of a talking-to for his defeated Manchester City players.

Among the first criticisms was, of course, the finishing. Or, really, the “decision-making” at key moments “in the box”. It is something that is worth bearing in mind amid the inevitable praise for Jose Mourinho’s tactics. On another day, those tactics wouldn’t have mattered a jot, because at least one of many City chances would have gone in long before Steven Bergwijn’s opener.

They had that many opportunities. There were that many bad misses. They could have been 3-0 up by the hour.

But as much as this was one of those days, it was also yet another of those days for City. This is why all of this is bearing on Guardiola’s mind, too. City seem to have lost some of their killer instinct.

One moment in the first half summed it up, that was almost worse than Ilkay Gundogan somehow stepping over the ball when he was set up for a shot mere yards from goal. It was when Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and the German were trying to build an attack, and get someone into the best possible position for scoring… only to keep building. It was as if they were trying to score the perfect five-a-side goal rather than just scoring. No one pulled the trigger.

It means that the perfect encapsulation of City’s campaign remains that moment in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg, when David Silva had David De Gea’s goal at his mercy… and passed it. This was the definition of bad decision-making in the box. This was the symbol of the season. The question is why?

How has this suddenly happened to a team who still score so many goals, and have been so ruthless for the last two seasons?

That actually points to part of the problem. Because this is not a new problem for Guardiola. It was something he went on about an awful lot in that tough first season with City, back in 2016-17. It bordered on an obsession for him - why City weren’t finishing.

The issue then was obvious in hindsight. They were still internalising and learning his approach, so it was natural they weren’t completely in-synch or in-tune. That translated into the tangible of so many squandered opportunities.

Once they got up to speed, though, there was barely any let-up. They scored to a frankly monstrous level, as illustrated by so many high scores.

And this is the issue now. The speed has slightly lessened. They are on the other side of that cycle. It is the same reason why they are now so far behind Liverpool, why they can’t match that pace. They just couldn’t sustain it.

It is fairly natural human psychology, and why Sir Alex Ferguson said the best you can get out of any group is a four-year cycle.

Mourinho got one over on his old rival (Getty Images)

This City squad are now in that fourth year under Guardiola, and it is pretty much why sources around the club say there has been that “five per cent drop-off in intensity”. It is not conscious. It is just something that happens. Much of it is almost imperceptible, but in games like this can be so clearly seen in that lack of killer instinct.

It does also lead to that bigger question around Guardiola, that won’t go away. Will he actually stick around for a rebuilding job?

While no one is saying he is off this summer, there are some around the club who consider it a possibility. It would not be the biggest surprise.

It would be the biggest new challenge of his career. This is the curiosity of it. He has never actually confronted this situation. He has never “done a Ferguson” and tried to rebuild a title-winning team.

It is why this question about City’s finishing is actually about the grander question of when the Guardiola era at the club will finish.