The beach yoga on Florida‘s east coast wouldn’t have felt quite so tranquil the morning after Al Hilal, as Manchester City prepared to board their two-floor 153-seat Atlas private charter back home a week earlier than anybody expected.
At least they can’t complain about a lack of rest next season now. The players are not due back until July 28, a four-week break and 18 days before the Premier League begins thanks to the early Club World Cup elimination. That will creep up quickly and they’ll need some time to forget about what happened here in Orlando.
A stunned silence washed over City’s squad during the aftermath of a 4-3 defeat in the last 16 – the largest upset of this tournament and a performance bearing all the hallmarks of many a Champions League disappointment during the Pep Guardiola years. Create enough chances to win three matches, then become undone by their own high line or defensive catastrophes.
It was the shock, the disbelief that really struck around the team in the early hours of Tuesday morning. City were looking good to go deep into the competition, especially after walloping Juventus 5-2 last week when the atmosphere was so relaxed that Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was around the dressing room.
They’d given up too many opportunities in the group stage but that was understandably overlooked given their raw, exciting power when motoring forward. City depart the tournament as joint top scorers with Bayern Munich.
Everything was set up for this to be a successful month for City, to banish the season just gone. Guardiola talked about the Club World Cup representing the start of the new year – new signings, new coaches, new outlook – but some might suggest they are better consigning this to the previous failure.
Manchester City crashed out of the Club World Cup with a shock 4-3 defeat by Al Hilal
City were looking good to go deep into the competition, especially after walloping Juventus 5-2 last week
But the biggest upset of the competition so far was caused – though the elimination could serve as some freezing water to the face
Perhaps, though, it serves as some freezing water to the face, certainly colder than the Atlantic Ocean has been off their resort in the affluent Boca Raton. A wake-up or reaffirmation that some need to move on. A few should hear their fates in the coming weeks.
City staff had been on two recces to the five-star hotel, Beach Club, before touching down last month. Their groundsmen had been tending to two pitches at Lynn University in the weeks before. Nothing was left to chance.
The families were offered packages at two luxurious complexes, The Tower and Waterstone, close to basecamp at their own expense and a short water taxi away. Some, like Phil Foden‘s family, opted to find their own houses for the trip close by.
Initially, it had seemed as if loved ones were scheduled to visit the team hotel on recovery days but the way training was designed – intense morning sessions, some over an hour-and-a-half – meant free afternoons every day for players to do as they pleased.
There were trips down to South Beach in Miami, a 45-minute journey, and golf days. Playing off a handicap of 10, new goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli fancied himself against John Stones and Stefan Ortega. Savinho and Rodri are the best current table tennis players, although not a patch on former winger Riyad Mahrez.
Some watched the other games in the competition – Nico Gonzalez was impressed by Urawa Red Diamonds in defeat by River Plate – whereas others switched off entirely. That is the curious nature of this tournament, that while serious with proper money at stake, it simultaneously seems like pre-season.
To illustrate the relaxed state, Guardiola’s right-hand man, Manel Estiarte, took a trip down memory lane on the day they beat Al Ain by visiting the McAuley Aquatic Centre in Atlanta, the scene of his 1994 Olympic water polo gold.
Josko Gvardiol brought a book of crosswords and didn’t want to venture out into the heat too much for fear of expending energy, while Oscar Bobb interrupted leisurely staff games of basketball to show them how it’s done.
City had seen the competition as opportunity to reset after a tough Premier League campaign
The families were offered packages at two luxurious complexes – Phil Foden’s family opted to find their own houses
Josko Gvardiol brought a book of crosswords and didn’t want to venture out into the heat
Rayan Cherki brought the house down by choosing to rap in French for his initiation
When all is said and done, though, City looked vulnerable defensively – something Pep Guardiola needs to fix
Rayan Cherki brought the house down by choosing to rap in French for his initiation song at an all-staff dinner; Omar Marmoush did his in Arabic with no music to make sure it need not go on longer than absolutely necessary. Jeremy Doku communicated in different languages to the new recruits and so did Pep Ljinders.
There was a feeling that this had been exactly what City required after the toil of nudging themselves into the top four.
‘We’ve created it,’ Gvardiol said the day before the Al Hilal shock. ‘That’s what you need – especially in this tournament. Obviously we want to win, lift the trophy. We’re responsible for the happiness and what’s going on inside the team.’
Pressing became more concerted, there felt more energy early on in matches. They ought to be foundations to build on.
A camaraderie was being forged inside a hotel that City had occupied around 60 per cent of, with the idyllic surroundings, the three seafront swimming pools and half a mile of private beach, sauna and cryotherapy room, a games loft with cinema. A number of offices stood next to each other on the second floor, Guardiola’s room near the performance and analysis hubs and the team meeting area.
Guardiola admitted earlier this week that the competition could ‘destroy’ them, more in coming up with hypothetical reasons why next year might be a struggle rather than any pointed criticism, and while that was leaning towards player fatigue – which, really, shouldn’t be an issue now – it could equally be true of the circumstances around their exit.
They can’t allow that to fester and create doubt going into Wolves away on August 16 if a title surge is to be forthcoming.
It is about recognising the frankly shambolic way in which they defended against Al Hilal but also not panicking either, remembering that the tie should have been won long before self-destruction. That is a slightly tricky balance to strike.
Pressing became more concerted and there felt more energy early on in matches for City
Guardiola said the tournament could ‘destroy’ City – they’ll now not play again until August 16
Training was intense, in what has effectively become a split pre-season (something Vincent Kompany attempted at Burnley two years ago without reward), and somebody like Erling Haaland has appeared sharper.
To illustrate the hard work, one coach really roughed up Haaland at half-time of the Juventus win as the Norwegian prepared to come on.
He responded positively to it and there will be things to take from the glorified US tour, especially the integration of Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders. Just that those extra bits of positivity are unlikely to be too obvious for a few days.
