Trafford, Marmoush, Guardiola - your Man City questions answered

Our regular Q&A this week looks at Omar Marmoush and James Trafford after their starring roles in midweek as well as the noise around Pep Guardiola

There's no shortage of Manchester City topics to discuss as Pep Guardiola's men look to compete in four competitions this season after the disappointment of last year. We've got every game and press conference covered for you but we also know that there is so much more going on around that.

That's why we are holding regular Q&A sessions with our chief City writer Simon Bajkowski. The day of the week it comes out on may change depending on what City's schedule looks like but essentially this is your chance to get an answer on anything you want - simply pop your question here at any time of the week and Simon will pick them all up wrap everything up in one place.

This week takes a look at Omar Marmoush and James Trafford after their starring roles in getting City to the Carabao Cup final, as well as a look at the noise around Pep Guardiola and why all the stories have started to come about.

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What agenda does Pep has against Omar Marmoush? DarlingtineI think pep should start giving Marmoush more playing time. Oyee Benard

I wanted to start with these questions this week, not to upset the commenters but because it is a useful exercise in how quickly things can change. Darlingtine posted his comment after Sunday's game when Omar Marmoush had been given all of about seven minutes of injury time to make a difference in the Spurs game. The next one came at half-time against Newcastle after the forward's two goals.

Marmoush was vital to City last season but this year before he went to AFCON I really didn't think he was anywhere near his best. Being back-up to Erling Haaland is incredibly difficult - just ask Julian Alvarez - and it is almost always a losing cause to be thrust in to fill in for him and expected to show every time why you should be playing. But I didn't think Marmoush was close to his levels from last season before he went away, however much he wasn't helped by lack of minutes.

Going away with Egypt has helped him, and he looked fresh and sharp on Wednesday night - something Haaland hasn't in the calendar year. Play like that and he will get minutes - that is the only agenda Guardiola has. It does throw up an interesting question for Anfield though, because Marmoush is more in form than Haaland but will Guardiola leave his No.9 on the bench?

Our statistics of second half vs first half since 1st January until now has shown weak in game management this is because in first half we score but in second half not and we conceded more, pep can you work on it? KJDWhy is MNC since the beginning of the year has become a first half team? jimvri

This currently feels like the biggest issue with City. They are at least good whenever they play a first half and well below that as soon as they come out for the second. Newcastle was arguably one of the best examples of this, where the two 45s simply didn't marry up. Guardiola has ideas for why it is happening but it feels like a range of different factors that all rear their heads at different points to cause problems.

City had similar collapses in the games against Fulham and Leeds before Christmas, but I don't think you can underestimate the fact that Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol have been missing from the heart of the defence. Marc Guehi has been brought in as a leader in the last month and if he gets a foul given against him when Dominic Solanke kicks his leg at Spurs maybe that is enough to stop the rot. It seems like City have too many players who aren't fully immersed in what Guardiola wants from them because they are new to the squad and, in most cases, young in their careers. That is perfectly acceptable but also difficult because the only cure is experience so basically City need their more senior players back on the pitch if they want a quick fix .

City has spent quite amount of money for players for last season and the current one but results dont tally, why? jimvri

This is an interesting question and a comment that I have seen knocking about in recent weeks: should City be doing better to say they've spent about £430m in the last three windows? It is of course down for individuals to decide but does seem to come down to momentum.

If you'd said after last year that City at this point would be in a cup final and well-placed in the three other competitions they can win I think that would have been seen as exactly what was wanted. But because the Premier League is there every week and City's results have slipped in the last month, that is questioning whether Guardiola's side should be doing better.

I think they absolutely should be in a title race for the money they have spent and with the existing resources (like Guardiola) they had. If they fall away in the second half of the season and Arsenal run away with the league, that will be disappointing. However, it has been obvious for some time that City aren't as good as the sum of their parts and most of their signings are not close to their peak yet. If they are able to win a trophy this season, it would be harsh to say that results haven't lined up with spending.

How does Pep Guardiola plan to address the defensive injuries with the upcoming fixtures? Will Marc Guehi get a chance to start against tough opponents like Liverpool or Arsenal? Mainza Hanyinda

Another question that involves timing. Guehi will almost certainly start at Liverpool after infamously not being involved with the Carabao Cup game, and he was a stabilising presence at Spurs. He obviously can't face Arsenal in the league cup final but would definitely be in contention for the league game at the Etihad.

Ruben Dias is back in training though and suddenly so is John Stones when people were beginning to wonder if he would ever be seen again. That certainly would have been an Anfield wildcard, but whenever Stones is able to return it certainly strengthens City's options. Josko Gvardiol may struggle to return this season but Stones, Dias, Guehi, Ake, Khusanov and Alleyne would leave Guardiola suddenly flush with options.

Hi Simon, The speculation in the media about Pep Guardiola’s future in 2026 feels excessive. With the second half of the season being such a decisive period, there is a sense that these rumours may be used to unsettle Manchester City. Is there any indication that rival clubs are deliberately leveraging this narrative to destabilise City? And internally, how does the club view this speculation, and how is it managing the noise around Guardiola’s future during a crucial stage of the season? TJ

Hi TJ, thanks for this question - I feel like it comes up a lot around stories and big games. I can't speak for everyone in the media and wouldn't want to speak for everyone in the media, but around Guardiola's future at the very least I would expect people want the story because it is one of the biggest in football and we all want to be the one to say that we had it first. Ego is the biggest agenda for us as journalists!

People have been saying that Guardiola is off, or is staying, for years and from a journalistic point of view as soon as you get to a point where you are happy and confident that the information you are getting is right you run with it. That is different for everyone, but also as soon as one person does it everyone else will get a phone call from their bosses asking why they haven't written the story and telling them that they need to pull something together.

The club are treating it all with a pinch of salt. They know it's going to be a huge story and that there is always going to be some level of noise. At the same time, they would like to control the situation as best they can - as they managed with Guardiola's arrival and his subsequent renewals. There have been plenty of other years where Guardiola's future or the charges or anything else have appeared to hang over the squad for at least part of the season, whereas this time you can't really say that's the case and the club would point to Guehi and Semenyo arriving to show that they can be future-proofed from any decision Guardiola makes.

After the carabao cup victory over Newcastle, pep praised Trafford and said the club needs 2 great keepers. Will pep try to make him stay in summer? Elliott

Another excellent question. Guardiola would love to keep Trafford as he wants to keep all of his players, but also he is better than most managers at understanding when and why players want to leave - a benefit of someone who had the same career before moving into coaching. Trafford has a lot of friends at the club who will do their best to try and keep him.

At the same time, everyone there will know that his decision to move to City last summer has cost him. In August he had dreams of being England No.1 at the World Cup and now he may not even make Thomas Tuchel's squad - that would be really hard to take. Both Guardiola and sporting director Hugo Viana have spoken of Gianluigi Donnarumma as a player for the next 10 years at City, and even if it is two then Trafford has to go for his own sake.

Please I want to ask a question about Elliot Anderson is he Manchester City top target in the summer transfer window, because I see news of him too firmly interested in joining Manchester City as well despite interest from other club is this truly happening. Then secondly what other players is Man City board interested in signing in the summer and who are the top targets for the replacement of Pep Guardiola and is he leaving after this season. Thank you. Prince

How many midfielders(6/8) do you think city will sign in the summer if Bernardo and Kovacic leave and is there anyone other than Anderson and Tonali on the list? Max

We covered possible Guardiola replacements last week and so it will be no surprise that City will want one of the best options around when theirs does decide to leave. At the minute, that conversation includes Kompany, Enrique, Alonso, Tuchel, De Zerbi and others but it very much depends on the circumstances of when a decision is made as to who is available at the time and in the best place.

In terms of midfielders, Guardiola certainly did his best to ensure people link Sandro Tonali to City by speaking to him for so long in the middle of the pitch. The manager insisted they share old connections but it certainly put people in the north-east on alert days after Tonali was linked with a shock deadline day move to Arsenal that seemed to have been sparked by his agent.

Elliot Anderson remains top choice in midfield and should be a relatively straightforward deal to do if City are convinced he's worth the money, and they will likely need another. However, Nico O'Reilly has started to be used as a midfielder again and shown promise so he could take that prospective spot and leave City to focus more on full-backs in the summer window.

This platform is excellent. Kosamu Rosinga

This isn't a question but it is appreciated. We've tried Q&As a number of time down the years but they have never really taken off, I think in part because the mechanism for asking questions has been too clunky and illogical (and if you don't hear from me again it's because I've been sacked for saying this). I have been enjoying doing these since we started them up again a few months ago so it's always nice as a journalist if people like reading things that you like writing.

Have a good week, everyone, and keep the questions coming.