Manchester City are in a ‘dark place’ but Guardiola promises to solve the crisis

Released: 06/11/2024 – 00:10Changed: 06/11/2024 – 00:08

3 min.

Victor Ghiokeres’ hat-trick and a series of costly City misses condemned Guardiola’s men to three defeats in a row for the first time since 2018.

Adding to City’s misery was the sight of Sporting manager Ruben Amorim celebrating a remarkable victory in his final home game before leaving the Portuguese champions to take charge of Manchester United on November 11.

City’s heaviest defeat since 2020 meant it was only the second time in the Guardiola era they have suffered three defeats in a row in the same season.

After a strong start to the season, the Premier League champions beat Tottenham in the League Cup last week before losing to Bournemouth on Saturday, their first top-flight defeat since December.

City’s unexpected malaise comes amid a raft of injuries to key players, including Rodri, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne, who was only fit for a brief substitute appearance at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

It was a painful return to Portugal for Lisbon-born Silva, who admitted City were mired in a devastating slump.

“It’s disappointing because we’re in a bit of a dark place right now. Everything seems to be going wrong,” he said.

“Even when we play well, we don’t take our chances and concede too easily.

“We need to recover very quickly, otherwise it will be very difficult to recover from these losses.

“It is difficult to find the reasons for what is happening to us. It just looks like this team is going down the wrong path right now.

“Our injured players need to come back because we need them and today that’s not enough.”

City’s first defeat in four games in the Champions League this season should not be fatal to their European ambitions.

But Guardiola cannot help but be alarmed by the way his injury-ravaged defense faltered after Phil Foden gave City a fourth-minute lead.

“I like this challenge”

It didn’t help that Jamai Simpson-Pusey, a 19-year-old centre-back called up due to a fitness problem, had a baptism of fire in his first game for City.

Erling Haaland’s wasteful strike was equally criminal, with the Norwegian striker hitting the crossbar from the penalty spot in the second half after missing several opportunities to extend City’s lead in the first half.

“We had a fantastic first half and now we are struggling to score. We create and concede when the opponents do little,” Guardiola said.

“When the score is 2:1, a lot can happen. Emotionally we were not stable enough and in this competition you need to be stable.”

Sporting took advantage of a good chance, they were quick and scored. This can happen.”

Speaking about the reasons for City’s collapse, Guardiola admitted that their weak defense and injury problems were affecting the game.

“Maybe. When you play a lot of games, you can’t play with the same lineup and four defenders. We had these problems on the first day, but it is what it is,” he said.

“This is football. Perhaps what we lived in the past is an exception. Sometimes you can lose. We were in a position where we were being punished for the few things they did and we were fighting for the chances we had.”

City desperately need to bounce back against Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday.

They sit second in the table, two points behind leaders Liverpool and chasing a fifth title in a row, and Guardiola insists he can find the answer to their woes.

“It’s a difficult moment in terms of results, but I want to be here. I want to fight and not give up,” he said.

“As a coach, I love this challenge. Those who want to follow us will be there.”

© 2024 AFP