One reason is that De Bruyne and Gundogan had the season of their lives as a midfielder duo. It was unbelievable how these two guys together assisted goals, scored goals themselves and took control over the game. They fit perfectly together because De Bruyne has the ability to push the game forward while Gundogan has this defensive element in his game. They complemented each other like it is rarely seen ever.
Real Madrid had a strong midfield for a long time in the same way when you compare it to Kroos and Modric. However, they were not equal to Gundogan and De Bruyne, yet they complemented each other in another perfect way.
This is what Manchester City is lacking a bit this season. The game isn't quite as creative.
Liverpool is behind against Luton
Let's see how that goes!
Real Madrid had a strong midfield for a long time in the same way when you compare it to Kroos and Modric. However, they were not equal to Gundogan and De Bruyne, yet they complemented each other in another perfect way.
This is what Manchester City is lacking a bit this season. The game isn't quite as creative.
Liverpool is behind against Luton
Let's see how that goes!Maybe, but it is strange that the game has changed so much just because of one detail on the pitch, because Pep is famous for the fact that he always finds a way out of a situation and the fact that in his team there are no irreplaceable players, any player at any time can go on the field and show the best game. In general, MC is still on top, so Pep's strategies are working, though not with such force
Manchester City does not win about 1/3 of their games, which I think is good evidence that Guardiola doesn't know every single time how to solve the problem. They are not quite as dominant as they used to be during the mid-season in 2022/23. But I agree with you that the whole team and many players are highly versatile, which is what Guardiola is alwasy after when he is watching out for new players to be integrated. Of course, you can't place Haaland anywhere else, but that's not the point. Most of the other players have this midfielder and attacker combination in their quality. That's really nice to watch as a fan and the whole style is something I like a lot.
The striker line as a whole is not versatile in terms of its position, you can't put them anywhere else, but as you rightly point out, it's the linking of midfielders and strikers that matters and Manchester City have a great one. Every midfielder plays well with the strikers. Let's see how the season ends, so far their stats look odd to win the game