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.
City also had injuries last season, when De Bruyne suffered a very serious injury and was out for half a season and they were left without Gundogan, who went to Barcelona, but all this did not affect City, they played very well and became champions again, despite the fact that Arsenal pursued them until the last round. But last season their attack played better, when Haaland could not score, Foden helped, and now it is more difficult for them even despite the return of Gundogan, or maybe he has not yet regained his form.
Yea, it's very true that Manchester city performed really well even though they had so many of their key players injured last season, but you know why they are struggling to cope with injuries this season?
It's because their era of dominance is coming to an end.
Everything that has a beginning must surely have an end, and I believe that even pep guardiola is aware of that, and that is why he is not too hard on himself because he knows that at some point in his Manchester city career, he wouldn't be that dominant with Manchester city as they are used to, so they should just enjoy the roller coaster ride while it last.
What i expect from pep guardiola from now on is to use this season to identify all the positions they are seriously lacking, and strengthen them with younger and more quality players that can fill the void left by most of this aging stars at Manchester city.