They may have steadied the ship somewhat with victory over Leicester, but thinks have been anything but plain sailing for Manchester City of late.
The once ominously perpetual winners have suffered a shocking fall from grace this season, with their form turning a full 180 degrees since late October.
A nervy home win over Southampton was an omen of what was to come for the four-time defending champions. Since then, they have won just two of their ten Premier League games and suffered heavy defeats in both the EFL Cup and Champions League.
Amid it all, their vastly experienced squad have looked completely lost for any ideas, while their manager Pep Guardiola has bordered on public breakdowns with every ever-worsening catastrophe.
Of course, there has been some hyperbole. In the grand scheme of things, this City team are still very much in the hunt for European football - but something is clearly broken with the team that needs to be fixed if that possibility is not soon to be erased.
Pundits have been scrambling to put their finger on the root cause of Manchester City's sudden and sharp decline. Ex-Arsenal and Chelsea star Emmanuel Petit believes that complacency is to blame.
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Emmanuel Petit lays finger on cause of Manchester City slide
Speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes' "Gaffer of all Accas", 1998 World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit said he believed that the explanation was "simple" for Manchester City's fall from grace.
Petit said he believed that the club had gotten caught up in the "dream" of the last eight years, and that they had been too reluctant to find long-term replacements for veteran stars at the club such as Kevin de Bruyne.
The Frenchman explained that he felt it had been naive of City to expect that this group of players would continue to win at the rate they had been in recent years.
Looking at Man City, for me the explanation is simple. This team has been on top of the world for so many years, they've been winning so many titles, and they're probably the best team in English history. To drop like this, after two months?
Pep Guardiola and the board probably thought they could do the same thing that they've been doing for two years, with the same players, and the same spine of the team.
But it doesn't work like that. After eight years, winning every single trophy, most of the time, you cannot expect that to go on forever, with the same group of players.
This group has been living a dream for years, but now some of the players are not at the same level anymore. Top, top players have dropped in levels, and that's why I think they need fresh blood.
Manchester City probably didn't see it coming in the last transfer window, where they should have done much better in terms of signings.
They should have brought in more quality, to cover for players like Kevin De Bruyne. They should have made the transition last summer, for some of those big players.
That's what I think it all comes down to, in my opinion.
When one looks at the lack of energy in the Manchester City team - particularly in midfield - it's hard to argue with Emmanuel Petit's assessment.
The question now is how much can be done in the January transfer window to arrest the slide before it worsens further.
Emmanuel Petit was speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes' "Gaffer of all Accas"
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