Man City defence GFXGetty/GOAL

From imperious to porous! Six reasons why Manchester City's defence is leaking goals at an alarming rate

Pep Guardiola may be the most admired coach in the world for the spell-binding, attacking football his sides have played down the years, from Barcelona to Bayern Munich to Manchester City. However, his thrilling brand has always been built on a platform of defensive solidity. In his 14 full seasons in elite coaching, Guardiola's side's have only not had the best defensive record in the league on three occasions.

The Catalan is a devotee of Johan Cruyff, who famously said that if you have the ball, the opposition cannot score. And despite all of the beautiful football the coach has overseen, he always been obsessed with taming the opposition. Above all, he has valued controlling the play.

But right now, Guardiola's side seem to be able to do everything but control games. His team are still playing thrilling football, but they have forgotten how to defend.

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City have conceded eight goals in their last three Premier League games (drawing 4-4 at Chelsea, 1-1 with Liverpool and 3-3 with Tottenham) - as many as in their first 11 matches of the season. And if you count their 3-2 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League, they have shipped a remarkable 10 goals in their last four matches.

So what's happened to Guardiola's ever-reliable defence? GOAL investigates...

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