After so many months, are Manchester City finally out of the woods?

According to Pep Guardiola, the answer is...... In a way, yes. The answer may have been found in the same place where the problem first arose: Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium.

在11月以1-2輸給伯恩茅斯的比賽中，曼城在大部分時間里都被壓制，這是持續三到四個月的糟糕開局中的第一場聯賽失利，可以說還沒有結束。

Their tough run to Champions League qualification looked like another blow when they trailed 2-0 at Crystal Palace on Sunday, but a five-goal counter-attack gave the team a valuable three points and more evidence to Pep Guardiola and his players that things may be getting better – but probably enough to finish in the top five.

"I'm optimistic about the excellent performance this season," Guardiola said on Saturday. "Some spirits are back. The spirit is there. The spirit will sustain us. ”

Ilkaj Gundogan, one of City's captains, echoed the same sentiment in another interview.

'I think in a lot of games, maybe we put too much emphasis on tactics and didn't really focus on our own behaviour,' he told TNT Sport ahead of Sunday's game against Crystal Palace. "With that determination, with that desire, with that aggression.

'I've seen some changes in the last few games, that very uncomfortable game against Bournemouth in the FA Cup. Maybe people don't pay much attention to that, people, in our society and in football, tend to appreciate a nice goal, a nice assist, a nice move.

'Sometimes, you can get a little bit off the back of those things, but I have to say since the international break in March, since we've come back, I've seen progress in that.

After Manchester City swept past Oliver Glasner's side with goals from five different players, Pep Guardiola spoke about the number of other chances his side created.

"That's how we've been doing it for years, and that's the way we've got to do it," he said, talking about what might be the focus.

"Run, unity. Again, in the FA Cup against Bournemouth, we came back to those aspects. ”

似乎在兩周前他們重返伯恩茅斯參加足總杯四分之一決賽之前，瓜迪奧拉回顧了11月的失利，在五個月後能夠指出自那以後困擾他們的大部分問題。

'Against Bournemouth we were all able to, I and the team were able to put the mirror in front of us,' he said on Sunday. 'Watching the game against Bournemouth, where we lost our first game in the Premier League this season, looking back on the game, I said, 'Wow'. I see the reason for our season.

"We talked about it, we saw it,...... The problem is to identify the problem, realize that there is a problem, move forward and try to find a solution. ”

Pep Guardiola gained insight into the process after winning the Cup in March.

'We talked a lot, we saw a lot of images that weren't up to our standards, nowhere near the level where we won six Premier League games in seven years, and we just focused on saying, 'Guys, without those, we can't ...... We didn't have a winger today, sometimes we had a winger, it didn't matter, we had to show respect for our team-mates, you have to work hard' and today we did that. ”

Manchester City defender Josco Gvardiol spoke after that about Pep Guardiola's passionate pre-match team talk, and it seemed that the focus on togetherness, team spirit, winning confrontations and all these ugly factors will be the focus.

"It probably took a long time to realise this," Guardiola reflected on Sunday, and what seemed shocking from the outside was that it would take a look back at the beginnings of this poor start – including defeats to Real Madrid, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Juventus, Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton – to realise it.

Pep Guardiola and his players have been mired in a seemingly never-ending cycle of frustration this season, and perhaps it will take the spring international break and the FA Cup draw to provide some clarity.

Pep Guardiola also admits that City are not there yet. As he has always said, they will not be back to their best this season. This has become obvious.

(Bournemouth)...... It didn't play well at Old Trafford, it was boring but we fought and that's the part we have to have every time. Can you play better? Well, we'll improve.

'We saw the game against the back five, where we should have been and we didn't do it there, today we did a little bit better and we could create chances.

The essentials of running and fighting seem to be back, and that really does provide City with an opportunity to improve on everything else.

After the draw at Old Trafford, Pep Guardiola said his side needed to run less, not more, and that they were not in the right position.

"It's simple," he explained on Saturday. "When you move the ball, you move the opponent. When you move your opponent, you create space to attack. When that space isn't occupied by the right players in the right position, you can't attack well. ”

Before he started talking about Bournemouth/Spirit after Sunday's game, he spoke about how they beat Crystal Palace on a difficult build on last weekend.

'After Kevin's goal, we took advantage of the situation and scored two goals. In the second half we adjusted one or two things – we were more in place, you have to move the team left and right. Left, right. Right, left. Left, right. If you want to attack faster, you're going to be in trouble.

"With that, look at how many chances we've created. We scored five goals but I remember [James] McCarty had three chances in front of the goalkeeper, Omar [Marmush] had two chances and Kevin had one chance, all clear chances in front of the goalkeeper. That's how we've been doing it for years, and that's how we've got to do it. ”

You've heard what he said in his next breath: "Run, unite." Again, in the FA Cup against Bournemouth, we came back to those aspects. ”

These things are all interconnected, and City have re-established those fundamentals, and they may finally be on the road to recovery.