When one of the most important players in the team gets injured or leaves the team, there is a void and the bench player does not fill the void. Manchester City understand their problems but they don't have enough options to turn those weaknesses into strengths. Manchester City may have accepted that this is how they have to perform this season as there is no chance of signing any new players until the transfer window opens. Manchester City players need to boost their confidence and try to do better with their current team. If Manchester City play like they are the best team in the English Premier League and if they perform a little better they can go back to the top of the points table but their performance will be much better.
I get that, but when we are discussing Manchester City, they should never depend on one or two injuries in a way that destroys the whole season if that happens. Yes it can happen and if Messi was to get injured back when he played for Barcelona, it literally meant that the game is going to be completely different. But they should still be able to compensate for these incidents on a level that the season is still not that much at risk. It does change the trajectory of a season, but it shouldn't to the extent that it is game over as soon as an important player misses a lot of games.