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Pep Guardiola speaks to the media after his Manchester City side's exit from the FIFA Club World Cup at the hands of Al-Hilal(Image: Hector Vivas - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Pep Lijnders will have seen that type of football before.

But whereas the chaotic style will forever by associated with his manager at Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, his new boss at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, would prefer control.

But neither Pep saw much of that as City crashed out of the FIFA Club World Cup in calamitous fashion in the early hours of Tuesday morning (July 1) after losing an incredible match 4-3 to Al-Hilal of the Saudi Pro League.

One goal up at the break thanks to new captain Bernardo Silva, the defending champions really should have been out of sight.

And they paid the price for their profligacy in a second half that showed up all the problems that ultimately ensured they finished a distant 13 points behind champions Liverpool in the Premier League last season.

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Susceptible on the counter-attack and to balls behind and over their backline, and with Ederson once again showing signs that he is not the goalkeeper he once was, City were all over at the place at times.

What made it more surprising was that the haphazard display came less than a week after they demolished Juventus 5-2 to march into the knockout stages of the revamped competition currently taking place in the US.

After that statement victory there was talk of City, aided by four new signings and the addition of ex-Liverpool assistant manager Lijnders to a new-look coaching staff, being back to their best.

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But the shock extra-time defeat to Al-Hilal was further proof that last season's beaten FA Cup finalists have a long way to go until that claim can be truly justified.

City boss Guardiola said afterwards: "It is a pity.

They did not create much in the first half - we did, but could not finish it.

"I had a feeling we could go through but they punished us on the transitions."

City's imbalance was clear for all to see last season and in part it allowed Liverpool, in new head coach Arne Slot's first campaign in charge, to canter to the title for the first time in five years.

Slot will no doubt be keeping an eye on events at the Club World Cup and if he watched the Reds' great rivals' embarrassing exit to the Saudi side, he may well have deduced that the bullish talk coming out of the City camp following the win over Juventus may have been premature.

Bolstered by the arrivals of Florian Wirtz., Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, with the prospect of more to come, as it stands Liverpool still look the team to beat in the Premier League next season.

But while the loss to Al-Hilal magnified City's flaws, there could also be a benefit in leaving the tournament early.

The 61 matches they have played since the start of the 2024-25 season equals their most in a single campaign since Guardiola's appointment in 2016.

But rather than continue on in America for up to two more weeks, Guardiola and his players will now get chance to rest up before their Premier League season gets under way at Wolves on August 16.

Thomas Tuchel, the England manager, already believed City's and his former club Chelsea's participation at the Club World Cup would be detrimental to their hopes of wrestling the domestic crown back from the Reds.

Speaking before the tournament, Tuchel said: "I think it will have a huge impact and it will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage in the next season to not be there."

Guardiola addressed those comments before the Al-Hilal last 16-encounter: "I try to relax, enjoy the days here and the good vibes that we have, the competition and we try to win it.

"The most important thing is to recover and find within ourselves what we were.

We will rest for the time the Premier League allow us.

"Maybe in November, December or January it will be a disaster, we are exhausted and the World Cup has destroyed us.

"I don't know, it's the first time in our lives that this has happened.

We will see when we come back."

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City will be back sooner than Guardiola expected and while that may ultimately help his team once the Premier League kicks-off, any notion that their issues of last season are behind them was blown away in 120 crazy minutes in the States.


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