When you are looking at the team week to week it can be hard to spot patterns, who needs a rest or not and how certain injuries could have lined up with our poor form. We’ve created a spreadsheet to track those minutes through the season and by doing so we noticed a few things.

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Manchester City 23/24 - Minutes Breakdown

All competitions

To access the live google spreadsheet click the link here

Makes a lot more sense when you zoom out to understand when rotations are coming, just by the color coding you see Dias and Walker getting regular breaks throughout the season between them both racking up ninety minute games.

Our periods of poor form, which we will get into later, are also quite apparent when you look at who was out during those times. Who wasn’t fit to start games regularly and which new players had barely got going. Please note, the spreadsheet is live and it will be updated throughout the remainder of the season.

Make sure you let us know your thoughts on the minutes in the comments below.

22/23 Minutes % Change

Here are the percentage change of minutes, for players that been with the team last season. Lines up with a lot of what you will have noticed just watching games.

Takeaways:

• Alvarez and Foden given a lot more responsibility due to the absence of De Bruyne and also it being time for Foden to step into being a main player in the team. Both exceeding their totals from the entirety of last season already, 10-15+ games to go still.

• Injuries to De Bruyne and Stones explain their drop in minutes, Stones less of a drop given his injury was not as significant and he had some troubles last season.

• Kyle Walker exceeding his total for last season already and will do so by quite a distance when it finishes. Captain of the team and key to our set up with Foden drifting inside.

• Akanji slight drop off expected with his small injury recently and the bigger role Kyle Walker now has.

• Bernardo lining up very similar to last season. Rodri without his suspensions would be the same.

• Haaland Injury explains his drop in minutes, which beside that has been a regular in the team all season. Been on the bench once for a rest (Newcastle, League Cup) and once when he was returning from injury, coming on against Burnley in the 71st minute.

• Rico Lewis getting an increase in minutes, breaking through last season and now he just needs to have a steady increase. Starting all Champions League group games was the main share of those minutes.

• Grealish has had a real up and down season, Injury in the beginning and more recently. Suspension for the Villa game. Been on the bench seven times, subbed on for seven games and not in the squad against Liverpool (H). Weird patch end of Jan as well, being on the bench away to Newcastle, Spurs in the FA Cup and at home against Brentford. Makes sense why Guardiola has also said in a few press conferences that Jack needs to have a better attitude in training.

September - October Period

Takeaways:

• This period was hardly a surprise to any City fan who just watched Rodri attempt to choke MGW and knows Kalvin Phillips was never an able deputy. Also factoring in that any progression in the League Cup would mean a game when City were at the Club World Cup. Recipe for disaster that!

• Champions League game away to Leipzig was our toughest group fixture in which the team largely handled it well. Very good result now looking back at it.

• Grealish had just returned from injury so was in no place to start all the games back-to-back.

• Bernardo not in the squad for the first two games, just having him in the Wolves game could have changed that result given he would have made sure the team calmed down in possession. Always seemed against Wolves that City, despite an aggressive press from the opposition, forced it through the middle too much leading to turnovers.

• Stones injured and then returning, who always needs a few games to ease him in could not help either.

• Kevin De Bruyne out injured who could well have made a difference when you factor in how close the two games in the league we lost were. One goal against Arsenal and Wolves ties it, both those points would put City top of the league right now.

November - December Period

Takeaways:

• Kevin De Bruyne out along with John Stones only returning for the Villa game, key players for when you again factor in how tight the dropped points games were. Only one goal stopped or scored swing them. Your not talking about games we were well beaten on the scoreboard.

• Both midfielders arriving in the summer having games were they are out of the squad in Kovacic and Nunes. City keep a tight unit even without injuries.

• Rodri suspension for the Aston Villa game was a huge blow. Grealish as well.

• Jeremy Doku injury for the Villa game left City with very little options out wide.

• Kalvin Phillips not an option for us despite being on the bench, never came on for any game.

Notable Injuries & Suspensions

Here is all the players that had notable injuries and suspensions put together on one sheet. With the amount of quality players leaving last summer you need a stable environment for the new signings to settle in. City didn’t have that from the start. De Bruyne and Stones longer term injuries. Bernardo and Grealish having a stop start first couple months. Doku and Nunes not arriving til late in the window.

Manchester City had a mess of a transfer window, quality players for sure but the timing of it all was not ideal. Then you add injuries to key players and suddenly the team begins to look like a bunch of lads not knowing how to play together. That’s because it is that. Players who haven’t got their roles in the team defined but have high expectations placed on them right away.

Now City are settled and heading into their toughest period of fixtures we can only hope that the short term pain will pay off for long term success.

That’s all for this newsletter, rounding up our week with everything here at Sky Blue Times and the world of Manchester City. We are always looking for other ways to provide value to our subscribers so we appreciate any feedback provided in the comments below.

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