A month ago, he thought he was getting Messi; today, all he’s got is a mess.

Pep Guardiola is facing the biggest crisis of his career as Manchester City look like insipidly pale shadows of their once all-conquering selves.

And as the team has lost its mojo, he has faced claims he’s “a fraud”.

This weekend he takes them to meet his mentor, Marcelo Bielsa, at swashbuckling Leeds which should tell us more about their state of health than the midweek Carabao Cup win at a weakened Burnley.

Leo Messi was never going to be the last piece of Pep’s City jigsaw – he was just going to provide the fancy window dressing for the missing pieces at the back.

With him, City would score so many, it wouldn’t matter if they let a few in. That was the thinking.

But since Messi’s U-turn at Barcelona, City are not scoring many and are letting loads in – five in last Sunday’s humiliation by Leicester. It’s the most he has conceded at home to any club.

Defending has always been Pep’s Achilles heel – even in his Barca pomp, they would always concede. It was as if it was a small price to pay, a minor inconvenience, for the coruscating brilliance that was going on elsewhere.

Once he said his ideal team would have 10 midfielders – he wasn’t joking. But he did have the holy trinity of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta at the time.

It may be because tackling is something he pooh-poohs as a kind of low-class activity beneath his high-brow standards.

You feel he’d rather his players didn’t dirty their boots by tackling but saved them for pinging laser-like passes in mesmerising patterns.

Death by 1,000 passes was the way he likes to beat teams.

When he got a thrashing – also from Leicester – in his first season in England, he shrugged: “I don’t coach tackling.” On recent evidence, it looks like he still doesn’t.

Pep’s ideal players are supposed to be so good that even when the tackles come, they’re no longer there to meet them.

A deft swivel of the hips and the tackler is, to borrow an old phrase, like the fire engine who went to the wrong fire.

Now he’s in need of rescue himself. It’s early in the season and he does have an injury crisis, but no Pep side has ever looked so vulnerable.

David Silva has gone, Sergio Aguero has been injured for much of the year and even what Fergie calls ‘the passing carousel’ has been out of sync.

Under Pep’s tutelage, players cannot lack direction – they may have too much – but he has already suggested they lack belief.

They are either not listening, not getting it or have heard it all before. He’s never stayed at a club this long.

As always, by far the biggest weakness is at the back. And the latest attempt at a remedy, £65m Ruben Dias from Benfica, takes Pep’s spending on defenders alone to £408m.

His total spend is enough to have Sheikh Mansour wondering where his next oil field is coming from.

You have to ask – and City fans are: Is Pep a good judge of defenders? Some are asking: Is Pep as good as he’s cracked up to be? It has come to that.

Nine league defeats and trailing Liverpool by 18 points last season was one thing; the woeful surrender to Lyon in the Champions League was another. Setting up to contain the weakest team left in it brought allegations of cowardice.

Such is his reputation that when he stuffs up like that, his admirers say he’s “overthinking”. Overspending is now another stick with which to beat him.

And as his behaviour becomes ever more ‘mad scientist’, his mental state is being questioned.

When Messi’s move to the Etihad was mooted, critics were already claiming that Pep can’t do it without the Argentine maestro. And in terms of the Champions league, he can’t.

He’s never won Old Big Ears without Messi being in his team and despite being brought specifically to do just that by both Bayern Munich and City.

To be fair, he had City playing the best football the English Premier League has ever seen and won eight domestic titles in 11 seasons with three different clubs, but he’s always had the best team by a mile. Since 2011, he has not reached the final.

Messi may yet arrive to bail him out next season, but the little genius will be 34 then and Pep has still to sign a new contract. If Pep quits, Messi won’t dream of going to Manchester.

For the first time in his glittering career, the cerebral super coach is fighting for his reputation. He will always be one of the most influential coaches of all time, but teams are finding holes in his cloak of invincibility.

Even if Dias shores up the back – by no means certain – City have lost their ability to quickly win back the ball which leaves their defence more exposed to counter attacks.

And upfront they miss the focal point of Aguero and lean too heavily on Kevin De Bruyne.

With Liverpool looking awesome and rivals strengthening, the City job is no longer the gold-paved route to glory that it claimed in the brochure.

Pep may seek advice from his mentor – he will be wary he doesn’t get too much on the field.

*Leeds vs Man City at 00.30am Sunday, October 4.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.