Despite massive spending, defense remains City's Achilles heel

The figures can sometimes give a distorted view of reality. With only 35 goals conceded this season in the Premier League, Manchester City have nothing less than the second best defense behind champion Liverpool (33 goals taken by the Reds). So from a statistical point of view, the Citizens seem solid behind. Except that in reality, it turns out to be far from that simple. If the Mancunian formation concedes relatively few goals, it owes it mainly to two factors: its goalkeeper, the Brazilian Ederson, and his… attack. Which may seem paradoxical, but which can be explained by a game, as always with coach Pep Guardiola, mainly based on possession of the ball. And of course, the more you have the ball, the less your opponent has it and therefore the less your risk of taking goals. CQFD.

Nathan Aké, the new (very dear) recruit

But even equipped with Guardiola's tactical science, no team can corner the ball 100%, or even 95% of the time. And it is there that the shoe pinches for Citizens who, for years, seek to solidify the axis of their defense, with great blows of tens of millions of euros. Without succeeding. Thus, again this summer, the Mancunian leaders took out the checkbook to recruit Nathan Aké in Bournemouth. Cost of transfer? 45 million euros. A colossal sum for a player who, admittedly, had a good season but within a club relegated to the lower level and without real international reference. Moreover, a sign that City is not sure of his acquisition, another central defender should arrive, and the list of candidates is long as the arm: Kalidou Koulibaly (Naples), Diego Carlos (Sevilla FC), Pau Torres ( Villarreal), Ruben Dias (Benfica) or Milan Skriniar (Inter Milan) thus appear in the little papers of Guardiola. And probably there are still a few names missing from this list ...

"It's a massive step and a great opportunity for me" @ NathanAke's first CityTV interview

#ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re

Why such a vast and frantic research? Quite simply because Guardiola believes that, apart from the Frenchman Aymeric Laporte, he is not sufficiently armed in this sector. At 32, the Argentinian Nicolas Otamendi seems at the end of the race and there is a good chance that the Citizens will let him go this summer. As for John Stones, his problem is neither his age - 26 years - nor his talent but his porcelain physique. Arrived in Manchester in the summer of 2016 for the modest sum of 55 million euros, the former Everton player has since never managed to obtain more than 23 starts in a season, the figure even falling to 12 in the past season. A real frustration for a player who demonstrated, when he was at 100% of his means, that he could form a complementary and effective hinge with Laporte. But to do only ten games per season is far too little for a club of the stature of Manchester City. As for Eric Garcia, he is still far too tender at 19, which is why Guardiola so often prefers to bring Fernandinho down a notch, even if it means stripping the midfielder of the Brazilian's intimidating presence.

Mangala, Stones ... how much money has vanished

This Achilles heel is proving all the more remarkable, and sad, for City as the club have spent a fortune to fix it. In vain. Thus, since 2014, the leaders of Mancunian have spent more than 220 million euros in this sector of play alone, for most of the time resulting only in casting errors. As was the case in 2014 with Eliaquim Mangala, bought 54 million euros but who, like Stones, accumulated physical glitches in the north of England. In 2015, City bet 44.5 million euros on Otamendi with a little more success, but without having hit the jackpot. Ditto with Laporte and the 65 million invested in the French who are just starting to pay off. It is therefore far, far away the time when City carried out a superb operation by buying Vincent Kompany against 8.5 million euros in Hamburg.

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Still, the president of Olympique Lyonnais Jean-Michel Aulas, if he can be envious of the sums spent, must say to himself that there is a blow to play - in the quarterfinals of the Champions League this Saturday (9:00 p.m., RMC Sport) - for its players against this defense that is not an insurmountable wall. Especially in the depth because Fernandinho - at 35 - or Otamendi no longer have their 20-year-old legs and in any case have never been arrows. And even the full-backs - Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo - show more talent on the offensive than on the defensive stages. For Memphis Depay and its partners, there is a loophole to exploit, undoubtedly. Provided, and we come back to the starting point, to achieve, to have the ball sufficiently. So not mostly, which is impossible, but at least 40% of the time to afford something to undermine the Mancunian rearguard. And dream of a new feat after the one achieved against Juventus in the previous round.             

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