Manchester City: How badly does Pep Guardiola need a striker?

After Manchester City’s Premier League heroics when they beat Chelsea 1-0 to go second in the table standings, a slip-up against the “Dream Team” PSG in their Champions League group clash followed.

Man City, who were not by any means outplayed by their opponents, were not clinical enough in front of goal, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in their Group A meeting at Le Parc des Princes on Tuesday night past.

This defeat by the other Group A favourites places City in an uncomfortable third place in their group standings; after a mammoth victory on Matchday 1 against RB Leipzig with a score of 6-3, you’d expect them to have at least a goal in this matchup.

However, with Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva missing sitters and creativity kept to a minimal by the Paris defence, a goal was hard to come by for Pep’s men.

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have failed to score in…

Since the season kicked off and taking City’s FA Community Shield loss against Leicester City into account, the ruthless attack of Man City have failed to score on four separate occasions.

These four occurrences include; the opening day loss to Tottenham, the shock stalemate against the struggling Saints, their most recent defeat to PSG, and as mentioned previously, the loss in the EPL curtain-raiser against the Foxes.

This is the first time in five seasons that Guardiola’s men have failed to score in four of their 10 opening games and it is the first without Sergio Aguero.

Added to their misery, normally the Cityzens would be leading the pack in goals scored, but actually have the third-highest goals scored this season behind, Manchester United and West Ham (13 goals scored) in joint second and Liverpool (15 goals scored) with the most scored.

So is there a need for a new striker at the Etihad?

You’d think with them already going out and scoring five goals or more in four outings across all competitions and having a squad to the value of over a billion pounds, there is no need for an out-and-out number 9.

Worryingly enough, there is a big requirement for a hitman, and an argument can be made they are in dire need of one. A striker would have put away all the chances missed in front of the goalmouth  – where the goal was gaping – and with or without a keeper to beat, was easy to slot away.

Their 15 shots on target without a goal in their tetrad of games reflect similarities to that of title challengers, Liverpool, who play with a false 9 setup and without an out-and-out striker.

There was a cause for concern when the Reds wingers, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah drew blanks for 11 games across all competitions, alongside their playmaker and link-up man, Roberto Firmino.

It proves there is a need for a player of Harry Kane’s qualities and attributes in all teams perhaps. It’s strange that we would be here discussing the necessity for a striker in a squad who are so fluent in attack, deadly in front of goal, and one of the most expensive teams in world football today.

As for Guardiola and his team, their tough test is far from over with them going to Anfield this weekend for a duel against league leaders, Liverpool. Two teams without a striker but relentless in attack and press, it should be one to remember with their respective best XI’s fit to play.