Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes that teams are now more confident in facing his side compared to before, which could put their Champions League hopes at risk if he doesn’t find a solution.

Guardiola, whose team will play Chelsea at home on Saturday, did not directly say that City had completely lost their ‘fear factor.’

However, as he reflected on their difficult season, he pointed out that opponents are no longer as intimidated as they used to be and are now pressing City more aggressively.Manchester City are currently in fifth place in the Premier League, trailing leaders Liverpool by 12 points. Towards the end of 2024, they struggled, winning just one of their last 13 matches.

After their recent loss to Paris St-Germain, City now need to defeat Club Brugge on Wednesday to secure a spot in the Champions League play-offs.

“Everyone came to the Etihad and stayed back,” he said. “The first team I saw man-marking was Neil Warnock at Cardiff. Now everyone does it. Everyone comes here, it doesn’t matter, man to man.

“They just jump to Ederson or Stefan [Ortega]. You have to adapt, do it better with the ball, otherwise you are not qualifying for the Champions League.”

Guardiola Photo Courtesy: Man City

Even though City have £123 million worth of new players ready for their Premier League match against Chelsea, Guardiola doesn’t think that will fix all their problems.

He brushed aside claims that running statistics show how well a team is performing. Instead, he believes the real issue is that his team hasn’t been using the ball effectively.

“Speed is important but against PSG we ran more than them,” he said. “Our problem is with the ball. This season it is what we have missed.

Doue in action against Man City Photo Courtesy: AP

“If you have the ball and don’t pass properly to your mate, everything is so difficult.”

When City won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend of the season, few would have predicted by the time the return meeting came around that Chelsea would be higher in the table and Guardiola’s team would be just a point in front of Bournemouth.