But when it comes time to close the book on the Manchester City dynasty—the run that saw it win six Premier League titles in seven seasons—this will go down as the week it died. A humbling exit from Europe at the hands of Real Madrid on Wednesday. A comprehensive home loss on Sunday against Liverpool, the club that will likely soon supplant City as champions. And now, the prospect of something Manchester City hasn’t worried about in years: a total rebuild.

“We are far away,” Guardiola said after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat, his first ever at Etihad Stadium against Liverpool. “We will see in the future. What we have done in previous seasons is good but now we are away from them.”

City’s fall from its unprecedented heights was the crash-landing that no one saw coming. Since Guardiola’s arrival in 2016, the club’s Abu Dhabi-backed ownership has armed him with one of the most expensive squads ever assembled in the history of sports. All told, he guided them to 18 trophies in eight years. And during that time, City never finished lower than second in the league and nor was it eliminated before the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Both of those streaks are set to end this season.

Plenty of theories have surfaced around what went wrong. They range from the practical, pointing to key absences that knocked the team off kilter, to the more philosophical, arguing that nearly a decade of wild success dulled the sharp edge required to keep winning. But this month, Guardiola himself began to offer a different explanation. The man who showed the world a new way to play soccer with his Barcelona-inspired passing style began to doubt his own approach. Were the twin pillars of dominating possession and careful build up no longer the way to go?

“It doesn’t work like it worked in the past,” Guardiola admitted after his first-leg against to Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola looks on during Manchester City’s 2-0 loss to Liverpool. Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

What’s clear is that Guardiola’s idea of soccer is no longer the only way to win. City leads the league, averaging 61% possession in its games, but sits fourth in the standings directly behind Nottingham Forest, a side that averages 40% of the ball. The reality is that City’s buildup now looks ponderous compared with clubs such as Liverpool or Real Madrid, who prefer to work quicker, more directly, and catch teams off-balance at high speeds. For all of its technical wizardry, City isn’t getting any closer to the opposing goal either. Its average shot distance this season is 16.7 yards, nearly a full yard further out than Liverpool’s.

That doesn’t exactly combine well with City’s leakiest defense in the Guardiola era. The club has already conceded 37 goals in 26 games this season, more than in any full campaign since 2016-17.

“Everyone knows that a part will be here next season for the older players but we have to build for the next step,” said Guardiola, who once again looked beleaguered on the sideline. “There is a question of time.”

Those are just the on-field problems. Even more alarming for Man City is the judgment they are expecting after an independent commission accused the club of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over the course of 14 years. The Premier League hasn’t said when a verdict will be handed down, but City could face penalties including points deductions or even relegation from the top tier of English soccer.

The club has denied any wrongdoing. And Guardiola has insisted he is in Manchester for the long haul. Last fall, he signed a contract extension that is due to keep him at City until 2027.

In the meantime, he has spent much of the past week defending his body of work, pointing to City’s seeming invincibility from 2020 to 2024 and its record points haul in 2017-18.

“No one is going to win 100 points, and four-in-a-row in the Premier League,” he said on British television. “It’s not going to happen in my lifetime, I’m sorry.”