Man City are about to find out just how much they've changed
When Manchester City lost to Juventus in Turin in December last year, it was their seventh defeat in 10 games and the pain still wasn't over. They would lose their next two as well, and the wheels looked to be coming off spectacularly.
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That eight-week run of one win and nine defeats in 13 games torpedoed City's chances of retaining their Premier League title and left them vulnerable in the Champions League. Failure to qualify in the top eight resulted in a play-off tie with Real Madrid.
In the first 45 minutes at Juventus, there were signs of hope. With Jack Grealish playing centrally, City were pretty good and the better team. It felt like a difficult game was there for the taking.
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But their soft underbelly was exposed in the second half. They conceded two goals on transition and looked like a team that had the heart ripped out of them. The next weekend, they threw away a derby day lead in the final minutes against Manchester United at the Etihad in contriving to lose.
Guardiola said he was "happy with the way we played" at Juventus, but his comments also exposed how far City had fallen in just a few weeks. He admitted he was questioning himself and that his team had "a lot of problems."
Ilkay Gundogan also spoke after the game, saying City were "careless with duels" but that he knew what the issue was.
"We know what's going wrong it's just finding the switch to turn things around because even though we are not getting results, it doesn't feel like we are far off," he said.
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"As long as we don't find that click, it's going to be tough. The only thing right now we can do, every single player needs to question themselves, to do better, how the player can individually sacrifice more to contribute to the team so we can get collectively back on our way."
City certainly improved as the season went on, recovering to finish third in the Premier League. However, their defeat to Crystal Palace at Wembley in the FA Cup final showed that their problems hadn't completely disappeared, and their stabilisation in the Premier League was built on a more solid and defensive set-up.
Guardiola now hopes that is behind them. While FIFA considers the Club World Cup an extension of last season, City are labelling it the start of a new one. Erling Haaland was credited with scoring his 32nd goal of the campaign against Al Ain, but as far as his club is concerned, it was the Norwegian's first of 2025/26.
Guardiola told his players as much in a meeting at their Boca Raton base before the tournament started, and they have bought into it. It is an easy psychological device to try to wipe the slate clean after last term.
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But at some point those memories could come flooding back and on Thursday night in Orlando, we will get to see just how far City have come since their low point in December. Another meeting with Juventus is an ideal staging post.
City need to win the game to win Group G and avoid a likely meeting with Real Madrid in the last-16. Can they beat Juventus now, seven months on from a predictable defeat in Italy? Juve have looked good in this tournament and top the group by virtue of scoring nine goals to City's eight against Wydad AC and Al Ain.
When they got on top in that Champions League meeting, City couldn't make Juventus pay and couldn't maintain control of the game. Their biggest weakness was also exposed. They were vulnerable to attacks through the middle and fast breaks, and even against Wydad AC and Al Ain, there have been hints of those issues in America.
Those two teams were never going to have the quality to take advantage. Juventus will. This is City's biggest test of the group stage and the ideal chance to see how far they have come.
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There will be changes in Guardiola's XI. Kyle Walker, Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne all started last winter, while Vitor Reis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez, Omar Marmoush, Marcus Bettinelli, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders have signed.
You would expect a few of those eight new arrivals to start in Orlando. They will help give the Blues a fresh look against a familiar foe. If City can produce a very different performance as well, then the belief that this is a new season will start to grow.
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