Manchester City's 'implosion' can be attributed to a number of factors this season, but Pep Guardiola's champions-in-crisis have simply reached the "natural end of an era", Steven McInerney of Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.
The Premier League title holders lost for the ninth time in 12 games in all competitions when they were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa at the weekend, a result that left them seventh in the Premier League table, 12 points behind Liverpool having played a game more than the Reds.
Guardiola has already ruled out his side's chances of winning a fabulous fifth Premier League title in a row amid their unforeseen capitulation, which has coincided with a long-term ACL injury to Ballon d'Or winner Rodri and various other fitness issues in the squad.
Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Mateo Kovacic have all spent time in the treatment room this season, and while McInerney has highlighted the impact of those absences, he is under no illusions that the Sky Blues have simply "imploded" this season.
"Excuses is a heavy word to use, but there are many explanations and the injury side of things is undeniable," McInerney told Sports Mole. Every time we get a player back someone else gets injured, we can't deny the impact that's had on the season.
"There's some point you have to look at the collection of players on the pitch and go 'well it's still a pretty decent collection of players even if they're not fully fit' which they're not. The expectations aren't particularly high for me as a City fan right now and I'm not the only one who shares that view amongst the City fanbase as well. I know some people want more, some people expect less.
"Exhausted" Man City have "imploded" after "climbing Everest a few times"
"I think these guys have climbed Everest a few times. You can't keep doing that and not get exhausted. I think we've reached a point where too many of these players have gone to the well too many times and they've got nothing left there. Guardiola's got so much out of them, he really has squeezed every tiny little bit of energy and ability out of them. But some of these now are in their 30s and are tired. And to get yourself out of a difficult situation it takes an awful lot of effort.
"I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them are sat at home right now thinking 'I'm 33, 34 years old and I've been offered several hundred grand to go play somewhere it's really sunny and no one expects anything from me.' A small part of them is probably tempted by that. And that's not to say they want to go, but they're humans. And as soon as you start to think away you've lost a bit of the drive. And I think that's a natural end to this era that you've had. It happens to everyone.
"City have just absolutely imploded and I don't think this is fixable gradually. I think it's going to take something quite drastic because I think the wheels have come off. I don't know if Guardiola even knows how to deal with it because he's never been here before."
Over the past 12 games, Man City's sole triumph was a 3-0 home success against Nottingham Forest - albeit a Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest - and their only other points came in draws with Crystal Palace and Feyenoord.
The latter result was another humiliation for Guardiola's troops, though, as they became the first team to ever blow a three-goal lead in the final 15 minutes of a Champions League match, and several of their star names have arguably passed their prime.
Is age a factor in Man City's decline?
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Man City have the third-oldest starting lineup on average in the current Premier League season - only behind Everton and West Ham United - with all of Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Stefan Ortega, Ederson, Kovacic, Stones and Bernardo Silva all in their 30s.
A handful of those veterans have been strongly linked with exits over the past couple of years, and McInerney has conceded that several of Guardiola's ageing players are "past it", especially in the case of the struggling Walker.
"There are obvious problems in the squad," McInerney added. "Some are too old. We haven't got a backup striker. We didn't sign a backup defensive midfielder. Kyle Walker unfortunately is really on the decline if not gone fully. Too many players are probably looking elsewhere subconsciously.
"At one point Kyle Walker wanted to go. Ederson wanted to go. Bernardo Silva wanted to go. There's a lot of people who've been told to stay or encouraged to stay, legends in their own right. But I think they're thinking about the future. I think some people can't stay fit, which means they're not reliable. And I think a lot of these players are past it and the squad is too small.
"Kyle Walker is not a Premier League level footballer any more, and that sounds really dramatic, but given the quality of the Premier League again, his decline has been really, really aggressive. He leans so heavily on his physicality, that's dipped, and his concentration has gone as a result, and I feel like he's just struggling. He's a very, very, past it, full-back unfortunately, so you have to replace that."
Striker problems addressed amid Erling Haaland slump
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The aforementioned Gundogan was just one of two players City brought in during the summer window, the other being Savinho from sister club Troyes, while their biggest sale was the departure of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid in a deal that could fetch up to £81.5m.
The Argentine's exit has forced Haaland to play the full 90 every single week, but last season's Golden Boot winner has only scored three goals in his last 12 Premier League games and has been surpassed by Mohamed Salah at the top of the scoring charts.
"You can't play Erling Haaland every single week," McInerney added. "We just do not have another striker, which is insane. It feels crazy to not have another striker, we sold Alvarez and bought no one. I think he wanted to lean on some midfielders, but none of them are scoring goals right now.
"And then we never signed an actual number six - we sort of signed Phillips years ago, that failed for whatever reason. Nunes was never a number six anyway, and that was a panic buy after we tried to sign Bellingham, tried to sign Rice, they tried to sign Paqueta, and that fell through for obvious reasons. Everyone can get at us, everyone's faster and stronger than City right now. Everyone's fitter, faster, stronger and hungrier. And that is concerning."
Man City kick off this year's Boxing Day action in the lunchtime kickoff at home to Sean Dyche's Everton, who have recently held both Arsenal and Chelsea to goalless stalemates.
Ben Knapton
