One of the most perplexing elements of Manchester City last season as they limped to a poor – by their standards – third-placed finish was how fragile they looked. The concept of a winning mentality can be overstated, but it was strange to watch a team that had won six of the last seven Premier League titles stripped of any confidence in their ability to win games.
This City team does not yet seem like a juggernaut, and against an aggressively Dychean Forest side they were unable to muster up a single shot on target in the first half. When Tijjani Reijnders scored the opener for the visitors in the 48th minute, any sigh of relief from the City squad was short-lived as Omari Hutchinson equalised for Nottingham Forest six minutes later, and it appeared as if that same strain of the 2024/25 season nerves might still be present in Pep Guardiola’s side.
Until Rayan Cherki scored a long-range effort from a Joško Gvardiol knock down following Phil Foden’s corner in the 83rd minute, it looked like the fledgling juggernaut might not carry on their flawless recent form. Cherki has been a revelation this season, looking firmly settled into the team and enjoying dictating play.
There were flashes in the game of what is to be expected from a Guardiola side. Their midfield merry-go-round perplexed Forest at points, as demonstrated early on when Nicolò Savona put out a flailing arm to try and grab Foden as he drifted across the pitch. The opening goal, complete with a late blind-side run from Reijnders, felt like a carbon copy of what İlkay Gündoğan used to do for this side. Reijnders admitted afterwards that Guardiola had asked him to push up in order to make it harder for Forest to decide who to mark in the attacking phases.
But for large portions of the game, Forest found themselves on top with Rúben Dias and Gvardiol looking far more rattled by a striker than their opposite numbers did with Erling Haaland. Sean Dyche has always developed strong relationships with his strikers, and Igor Jesus’s ability to hassle defenders looks to be a match made in heaven for the Forest manager.
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Manchester City had won their three Premier League games 3-0 prior to this, but Guardiola had been insistent that his team were not playing well. For all that Forest themselves played well – organised and aggressive, with a clear game plan – it was understandable from watching this match why Guardiola believes this side are not yet where they should be. He had refused to give his side a day off after their win over West Ham before Christmas, claiming they “didn’t play well enough”. He had also revealed that all his players would be weighed after they came back from the holiday, with anyone overweight set to be left in Manchester.
Clearly some of City’s players are happy to see it as a bit of a joke. Haaland posted a picture of himself on the scales on Boxing Day, whilst Reijnders posted: “Adding goals, not weight this festive season” on social media. Guardiola himself mentioned it again both prior and post-match in his interviews with TNT Sports. But Guardiola’s obsession with his players’ weight has its victims too. He previously had to apologise for calling Kalvin Phillips overweight, and Phillips’s experience at City effectively put an indefinite pause on his professional career.
From the outside, it is hard to know what effect his comments have on the environment itself, and it is possible that even within the environment, players might not know the impact they could be having on their teammates. Far too little attention is paid to the punitive relationship that men can have with their body image, whether at a professional level or not.
When Dyche was asked about Guardiola’s comments prior to the match, he said: “Sometimes, the psychology is as important as anything with athletes and, within reason, you want them to enjoy their Christmas Day … It’s a big part of their life.” When the impact of long football seasons on players is considered, it is often discussed in terms of the drag on their physical ability, rarely in terms of their psychological strain. The reality of never being able to switch off and relax, even at Christmas, is one that is draining to consider.
Managing to get a crucial win in the Premier League title race means that these kinds of concerns will be brushed away. At the final whistle Gvardiol fell to the floor, if there was any doubt as to how important City’s players saw the result as being. The win meant that they were a point above Arsenal when Mikel Arteta’s team kicked off against Brighton at 3pm, creating the kind of cat and mouse pressure that has typified the title races between these two teams over the years. Guardiola knows how to come out on top of those.
Yet when question marks arise over concepts like mentality or psychology, as it did last year, it is worth reflecting on the environment that the squad is operating in. When it is all going well, and with six Premier League wins on the bounce, not much attention will be paid to the impact of a manager’s words on their players. That doesn’t mean it all ends up as water off a duck’s back though. Reports suggest that this may well be Guardiola’s last season at the club, and in which case he will undoubtedly want to squeeze out every last drop from his players. What the cost of that is is something that might only be understood in the months or years to come.
Photograph by Ben Stansall / AFP via Getty Images