Pep Guardiola is running out of excuses after damning new Man City trend

So now Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have something else in common. Managers with five Champions Leagues between them have each stumbled in the cold of the north of Norway. The heaviest, and perhaps most ignominious, defeat of Mourinho’s career was the 6-1 battering his Roma side suffered against Bodo/Glimt in 2021. For Guardiola, a 3-1 loss was merely his joint-biggest defeat of the week. It was, though, a dispiriting affair for a man accustomed to rather better. Perhaps Guardiola is not the only leader who would be best advised to stay out of the Arctic Circle.

At the very least, it may give him another unique feat to add to a host of others. Has anyone else recorded back-to-back European results of beating Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and then losing to Bodo/Glimt? Certainly, the symbolic nature of such a defeat could suggest his powers are waning.

One way or another, Guardiola has had a difficult 2026. In an Etihad Stadium draw with a supposedly in-crisis Chelsea, the manager to get his tactics and substitutions spot on was the rookie Calum McFarlane , in his first match in the dugout. Michael Carrick has more experience, but a Manchester derby was just his third Premier League game in charge. He got the better of Guardiola on Saturday.

If the evidence from the current campaign has been mixed, Guardiola has always drawn a difference between this season and last. There were some different causes of his worst-ever run, the nine defeats in 12 matches towards the end of 2024. Then there were too many ageing legs, while City had done too little in the transfer market.

Now neither of those is true. The common denominator is injuries, which have left some overworked, produced some makeshift sides and caught up with City . The most pertinent word Guardiola used in his post-match inquest in Norway was “fragile”.

That fragility of a new-look team can be apparent on the road. City have lost five of their most demanding away games, at Brighton, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Manchester United and Bodo/Glimt. The evidence is mixed, given that they have won in Madrid, come within minutes of beating Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and, seven days before losing in Norway, won on a return visit to Newcastle.

But old and new themes have merged. Even the best Guardiola City sides could concede to counter-attacks, and both United and Bodo/Glimt exposed a vulnerability to transitions; indeed, that brought Rodri’s red card as City were caught on the break. But this team, with fewer professional passers, have less control than some of their predecessors. It is why one of their most instructive away games was at Fulham: 5-1 up, City ended up just about winning 5-4.

Yet their potency then came from the fact that Erling Haaland and Phil Foden were both scoring. It was the start of a run of six goals in six games for the Norwegian, or part of a sequence of 25 in 23. Now he has only one penalty in his last eight outings. The Englishman was in a burst of six in five then; now his drought has stretched to nine matches. Take out the 10-1 demolition of Exeter and City have five goals in their last six matches. While Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Antoine Semenyo have all chipped in, there is still the question of who scores if Haaland does not.

open image in gallery

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looks dejected after defeat to Bodo/Glimt (Action Images via Reuters)

Defensively, City can be particularly grateful they signed Gianluigi Donnarumma; but for him, two losses in four days could have been twin thrashings. Yet Marc Guehi’s £20m arrival from Crystal Palace came on a day to show why , without the injured Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias, he is needed. For Max Alleyne, a revelation on his return from loan at Watford, it has been two games too many. Guardiola’s odd and unsuccessful deployment of Rayan Ait-Nouri at right-back in Norway seemed to stem from a recognition of Rico Lewis’ defensive shortcomings when used in the back four.

In the bigger picture, the signings of Semenyo and Guehi take expenditure in the last year to around £430m. Forging a new team in a hurry is no simple or cheap process. Maybe only Donnarumma is genuinely world class now, whereas some of the departed were at their peak: Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker and Ederson in particular. Some of the signings – Nico Gonzalez, Reijnders, Cherki, perhaps, after a traumatic start, Abdukodir Khusanov – have offered encouragement. Others - James Trafford, Vitor Reis, Ait-Nouri – have made negligible contributions.

open image in gallery

Donnarumma appears dejected as Bodo/Glimt celebrate (AP)

The arrival of Semenyo could be seen as an acknowledgement that Omar Marmoush, the 2024 buy Savinho and Oscar Bobb, who could now join Fulham, have offered too little. Guehi’s purchase alters the impression that Dias and Gvardiol would be the long-term partnership in the middle of the defence.

Whether Guardiola will be the manager for the long term, or even next season, remains to be seen. He has looked re-energised at times, drained at others. So far, 2026 has made it look unlikely his revamped side will win the Premier League this season, let alone the Champions League. But perhaps an old enemy can provide optimism there. Seven months after the 6-1 in Norway, Mourinho’s Roma won continental silverware. Though it was the Europa Conference League.