Man City: It would be a miracle if Pep Guardiola’s side don’t qualify for Champions League knockouts, says Paul Merson | Football News

Paul Merson says it will be a miracle if Manchester City fail to progress to the Champions League knockout stages.

City dropped to 25th in the Champions League table, a position that will see them eliminated from the competition, after a 4-2 away defeat at Paris Saint-Germain.

Pep Guardiola admitted that Champions League exit is now a “reality” for City as his side trail 24th-placed Stuttgart by two points with a “last chance” game against Club Brugge on January 29.

Speaking Sky Sports NewsSky Sports pundit Paul Merson believes Manchester City have a lot of work to do to get back to their best form, but has backed them to qualify for the knockout stages despite their perilous position.

He also believes that Guardiola’s side face a huge fight to finish in the top four of the Premier League and follow Chelsea in the Championship. Live on Sky Sports It doesn’t get any easier for champions…

“Word class players are coming to an end”

I wasn’t buying this Manchester City is back.

Brentford should have beaten them. They scored six and eight goals against Ipswich and Salford respectively, but Leicester also missed good chances against them.

I don’t think they’ve been great, so this PSG result doesn’t shock me at all.

PSG deserved to win. They beat Manchester City. Their intensity was just great. They got rattled and started making mistakes. Losing a two-goal lead in a game of this magnitude is almost unheard of.

“Manchester City” is struggling. The team’s legs are gone. When PSG showed high energy, like Brentford, they went through them like a knife through butter.

It is a big problem for them. This team is changing and it is difficult because we are talking about world-class players, but some of them are coming to an end.

“It’s a miracle if “City” doesn’t reach the qualification stage.

It would be a miracle if Manchester City didn’t qualify.

This Champions League layout is made for the best teams, even if they have a bad day at the office, they will still make it to the knockout stages.

If you said at the start of the tournament that you were going to play Club Brugge and you had to beat them to go through, you’d think Manchester City would have more than enough to do it.

Celtic, who went through, and kudos to them for that, would have accepted that scenario at the start of the tournament.

I think Manchester City will go through.

“The energy of the city has passed”

Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic are in that triangle, with Phil Foden and Savinho on the wings. Who is closing in and surrounding the opposition?

Watching Man City now, watching them regress, they are not the Manchester City of old. They are not the team that went after the opposition and choked them. They hunted in packs to go and retrieve the ball.

These players don’t go back like they used to. They just don’t do it anymore.

They don’t have that energy, and those high-energy style teams cause them problems.

Manchester City have a lot of work to do. They are rightfully in contention for a top four finish in the Premier League and while I expect them to beat Club Brugge, there will be challenges in the Champions League as well.

Mercen on City’s January transfer business…

I like Omar Marmusch from Frankfurt. He is a good scorer. However, I don’t see him getting into this Manchester City team.

He is a good striker, but if he is asked to play on the left or the right, cutting back and joining the play, I don’t see how that works because it is difficult to join Erling Holland.

Haaland is also an incredible goalscorer, but he has no interest in linking up with the wing players in a way that Marmus wants to play.

I’m having a hard time seeing where he fits in.

Matheus Nunes has struggled where he has played for Manchester City.

To ask him to play at right-back in the way Manchester City are revealed, you’re going to be up against it every week.

Letting Kyle Walker go for around £4m I just don’t get it. It’s nothing, it’s a cup of tea in football.

I’m still a big fan of Walker. I know he’s lost a little bit of pace, but he’ll still be on my team.

Chelsea and Palmer will cause problems with Manchester City.

I don’t see Manchester City getting back into the Premier League title race.

They’re in a big fight for a top four finish in my opinion. That’s it for them this season.

They are Chelsea and Arsenal waiting for that big game against Club Brugge.

I just don’t see them coming back with Liverpool this far.

I can see Chelsea beating them this weekend.

The energy that Chelsea have and Cole Palmer getting into those pockets, I can see Enzo Maresca’s side causing City big problems.

PSG’s game would help “Chelsea”. They will look and see that this is not the old city.

They can’t keep the intensity in their game for more than five or 10 minutes. Palmer holds the key for Chelsea. I don’t see how Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic live with him.

I would be shocked if Chelsea lost this game.