It does not matter with a good start in the last season and maybe a poor start in the current season because anyway, that Manchester City remains the superior team. Therefore, although Manchester City have suffered one defeat this season but still, Manchester City are still at the top of the Premier League table and also, Manchester City are also undefeated in the Champions League in the current group phase . So yes, it is not right if you might consider Manchester City to be weak just because of De Bruyne injury. Because anyway, even though De Bruyne is injured but the fact is Manchester City can still compete well too, so De Bruyne injury will certainly not make Manchester City bad.
Talking about Manchester City, a team that can be said to be quite strong in this competition and also in the Champions League. Here I want to say something from my point of view, regarding this team. If I noticed at the start they played this competition, also in the Champions League. In fact, Pep has not shown the strength of his team's squad.
Let's look at the matches they have played throughout this season, Pep has done a lot by rotating his players. Apart from that, Pep also tried to apply several different patterns. and apparently, he didn't really care about the outcome of the match. what he wants is that the system he implements is effective and the team plays well.
Defeat against Newcastle in the EFL Cup, Pep tried to give opportunities to several players such as Oscar Bobb, Sergio Gomez and several other second-tier players. Likewise with Alvarez who is believed to be the sole striker. the result is not satisfactory. but it's natural, because it seems like he's doing an experiment. Another defeat against Wolves in the Premier League, could not be separated from Ruben Dias' blunder. Plus, the absence of several important players such as Bernardo Silva, Rodri, J.Stones and of course De Brunye, who was injured from the start.
However, Pep is still trying to experiment with rotating his players in the match against Laipzig on matchday 2. As I said, Pep doesn't seem to care much about the final result of the match. However, he wants to ensure that the squad he cares for performs with its best performance. and yep, City was able to overthrow Leipzig, even though substitutes like Alvarez and Jereme Doku were the decisive winners. BTW, now Pep Guaridola has returned to dominantly implementing the 4-2-3-1 pattern.
although, there are several rotations that he does. I'm sure, gradually Manchester City will return to playing as they should, even without De Bruyne. and currently, City remains at the top of the standings even though they only have a one point difference from Spurs and Arsenal. This week, City will visit the Emirates Stadium. I'm curious what system Pep will apply in the match against Arsenal.