At the Halloween party organized for Manchester City’s players and their families two days before facing Bournemouth last Sunday, one of the props used to decorate the venue was a cinema-style entrance. Inside, the walls were covered with “Wanted” and “Missing” posters featuring pictures of Pep Guardiola’s squad. At the front, guests — including defender Rúben Dias dressed as Jack Sparrow — were greeted by an old-school theater scene complete with red velvet curtains and a marquee sign.

“Now screening: I Know What You Did Last Season,” it read, referencing a slasher film.

Injuries and a significant dip in form made the 2024-25 campaign a certified nightmare for a team that won the previous four Premier League titles. Players and staff are able to poke fun at themselves now, though there is a feeling that City are still trying to show they’re fully recovered from the ordeal.

Guardiola has so far refused to indulge questions about what his team might be able to achieve this season, and City’s start hasn’t given much away, either. There have been wins over Manchester United and Napoli, and a creditable draw with Arsenal, but also defeats to Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa.

Yet despite their mixed form, City are second in the table ahead of Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. It’s a game that will go some way to revealing whether they’re back to being genuine title contenders or still stuck in the middle of a rebuild.

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To get back on track, Guardiola is doing things differently. He took the unusual step of canceling training the day before the Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, instead giving the players the day off. Dortmund’s Bundesliga fixture against Augsburg had been moved to last Friday night to allow them four days’ rest before visiting the Etihad. City, meanwhile, were asked to play against Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.

Guardiola is doing everything he can to avoid a repeat of the injuries that ruined last season. He said he hoped the move — which had to get special sign-off from UEFA — would also send “a message to the brain guys” in charge of fixture scheduling. He’s unlikely to get much help on that front, but the extra rest paid off and City beat Dortmund 4-1 to move up to fourth in the Champions League table.

There have been changes off the pitch, too. The squad has lost more than 1,500 games worth of experience over the last 12 months with the departures of Éderson, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gündogan and Kevin De Bruyne. It’s something defender Josko Gvardiol said has been particularly noticeable.

“You can feel it,” he told ESPN. “A lot of guys, they’re not here anymore with us, but this is football. One day you are here, maybe next day you’re going to be somewhere else and we need to accept it. … It’s normal [to have changes to the squad] and everyone in our team is fully professional and everyone takes their roles, their job, really professional.”

In response, Guardiola has taken more control of the dressing room. Over the summer, he hand-picked his captains after years of letting the players hold their own vote. Having decided a lack of unity contributed to last season’s failings, he chose the leaders himself for the first time in his managerial career.

Things like organizing a Halloween party might appear relatively insignificant, but for Guardiola, it’s an important part of rebuilding what was lost last season. He has kept a keen eye on the spirit and togetherness within the squad, but that focus extends to other things he believes are vital to a functioning team, such as body language in training and in games.

The loss of so many big personalities in a relatively short space of time has allowed others to step up to fill the void. Guardiola’s new leadership group is led by Bernardo Silva, with support from Dias, Rodri and Erling Haaland.

Bernardo, Dias and Rodri — experienced and older — were perhaps obvious choices, but picking Haaland came as something of a surprise. But Guardiola has since said that it was maybe “the best decision I’ve made.” Haaland has set an example on the pitch with 18 goals and an improved defensive diligence. Off the pitch, Haaland has grown into his new role. This week, he asked to do the pre-match media duties ahead of the game against Dortmund. John Stones was supposed to do the news conference until Haaland volunteered.

Besides the soundbites about being compared with Lionel Messi and the possibility of breaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League goal-scoring record, the Norwegian spoke about how much last season hurt.

“Of course, it is not nice to lose games,” he said. “To lose the cup final, come third in the Premier League and go out early in the Champions League is not ideal for this club and we all know we need to do better, be more stable and perform when it matters.”

Too often last season, City couldn’t do it. Along with the FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace referenced by Haaland, they also lost home and away to Liverpool. Both games ended 2-0 as Arne Slot’s team marched toward the title.

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Are Man City making their way back to the title race?

Gab Marcotti discusses Phil Foden’s performance in Man City’s 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund as Pep Guardiola’s team seems to recover their good form.

Amid all the change at City, there has been one crucial constant. Guardiola put doubts about his future to bed last season by signing a contract extension until summer 2027. With Guardiola in his 10th season as City manager, there have been questions about whether he still has the same energy and drive that he had when he arrived in 2016.

Gvardiol said he has no doubts.

“I think he’s the same as he was in the first season,” the Croatia international said. “He’s still the one who wants to push us, who wants to train something new or to work on some things. That’s what we like to see, because when you see the manager is full of enthusiasm, full of energy and he’s ready to work, then of course it lets us know and we are ready to fight as well.”

The last time City played Liverpool was in February. It came at the end of a month that had already produced two defeats to Real Madrid and a heavy 5-1 loss at Arsenal. Perhaps naturally, Guardiola spoke ahead of the game with an air of dread.

Fast forward nearly nine months, and his mood could not be more different. It helps, of course, that City have lost just one of their last 13 matches. “To be honest, I’m so excited and happy to prepare for the game on Sunday,” Guardiola said after the win over Dortmund. “I’m looking forward desperately to play on Sunday again, against Liverpool, and we’ll see what happens.”

It’s another chance for Guardiola and his players to prove that last season’s horror show is firmly behind them.