Pep Guardiola stood in the tiny Aspmyra Stadium, his voice laden with frustration. Manchester City had just been dismantled 3-1 by Bodo/Glimt, a Norwegian club from a town smaller than one stand at the Etihad. “Everything has started to be, since the New Year, against us,” Guardiola stated after the Champions League defeat. “We have to change the dynamic quickly. The feeling is that everything that could go wrong is going wrong.”
Into this crisis steps Marc Guehi. The England defender’s £20 million arrival from Crystal Palace this January is seen as a lifeline for a team that has won just twice in seven games this year. Saturday’s derby defeat to Manchester United was bad, but the loss in the Arctic Circle felt like a new low.
Guehi described City’s past decade as “total domination,” but 2026 has been a total disaster. The stats are damning. Two wins, three draws, two losses since January. The Champions League defeat to a team with a squad value a quarter of Erling Haaland’s alone has sparked embarrassment within the camp.
Haaland didn’t hold back after the Bodo game. “We’re Man City. We can’t go around and not win games,” the striker remarked. “I just apologise to everyone; every single Man City supporter and every single supporter that travelled today, because in the end it’s embarrassing.” So embarrassed that the squad agreed to refund the 374 traveling fans their ticket costs, nearly £10,000.
But refunds don’t fix problems. Guehi’s signing aims to. Snatched for a relative pittance in a market where City paid £30 million for prospects like Abdukodir Khusanov last year, the 25-year-old centre-back is a ready-made leader. He captained Palace to FA Cup glory, was England’s rock at Euro 2024, and arrives with a reputation for calm and goals—seven in two seasons for club and country.
His leadership is desperately needed. Serial winners like Ederson, Kyle Walker, and Kevin De Bruyne have left in the past year. Injuries have ripped the defense apart; Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias are sidelined, John Stones is leaving in the summer. Against United and Bodo, City relied on kids. Twenty-year-old Max Alleyne was exposed at Old Trafford and made two critical errors in Norway leading to goals.
Guehi plans to play until he’s 40, he recently told the BBC. City need him to start performing immediately. Yet the issues run deeper than defense. Haaland has no open-play goals in eight matches, looks weary. Phil Foden’s form has dipped sharply after Christmas. Rodri, once the Ballon d’Or-winning talisman, is struggling. City have a better win rate without him this season—84.2% when he’s out compared to 50% when he plays. In Norway, he gave the ball away for Bodo’s third goal and got sent off.
Guardiola isn’t blameless. His tactical setup, a three-man defense screened only by Rodri, has been sliced open repeatedly by United and Bodo. Injuries haven’t helped—Nico Gonzalez and Matheus Nunes are also absent—but the manager’s refusal to adapt is drawing criticism.
Guehi called Stones “a big brother,” and he’s effectively his long-term replacement. But he’s one man in a squad suddenly beset by crises in every department. The financial contrast is staggering. City spent £445 million over the last three windows; Bodo/Glimt’s ten most expensive signings ever cost £23.5 million combined. Yet money hasn’t bought coherence.
The question now is whether Guehi’s steadying presence can be the catalyst for change. He brings order, experience, and a winning mentality. But football is a team sport, and City’s ailments are systemic. Guardiola needs more than a new defender to stop the spiral. The January blues have set in, and only a collective awakening will prevent this season from becoming a genuine nightmare.
