NEW BLUES LACKING A BIT OF PEP

Omar's harsh lesson

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MANCHESTER CITY are no longer what they once were.

The Pep Guardiola side that crushed all-comers for seven years and won, alongside other more important trophies, four Carabao Cups in a row is gone.

The XI that started at Swansea was evidence of that - even if they did progress into the last eight - with Nathan Ake the only one to have won the League Cup at the Etihad.

Amid an injury crisis last season, too many of City's serial winners lost the edge that has kept the manager going for so much longer than anyone dared to dream of.