Maybe Pep thinks there are still midfielders who can help the defense, this is characteristic of Manchester City which is team with superior attack quality in every match, but you are right that now everything has changed and Manchester City is not the squad it used to be.
It just that at least they got some impressive win, after this break we can see how the changes are, Pep will not stay silent after series of bad responses to him and Manchester City because Pep must have prepared some plans to overcome this situation.
The bad situation that Manchester City has experienced should not be maintained so Pep should have prepared his unique plan to revive the slumping team after this break. Because Manchester City must at least be able to reach the top four positions for this season in order to return to the UCL next season with a new spirit, but if in the second half of this season Manchester City does not get more changes in every line, of course it will be very difficult to be in the top four zone because several other teams are still quite strong and will also make better changes.