Manchester United legend, Gary Neville
Manchester United legend, Gary Neville, believes Manchester City are in decline after losing five games in a row for the first time under Pep Guardiola.
Despite dominating possession and totalling more than double the shots of their opposition, Man City rarely looked dangerous in Saturday’s 4-0 loss to Spurs and never looked likely of mounting a comeback after James Maddison gave the visitors an early lead. The defeat – the fifth in a succession of lacklustre performances – will sting for the defending champions, and to make it worse, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has taken a scathing shot at them, describing them as a team ‘in decline’.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the full-time whistle of City’s humbling defeat to Tottenham, Neville said: “We’ve seen City lose the odd game here, but we’ve very rarely seen them outplayed in every department, but that’s what we’re watching,’ the pundit said. ‘They look well short. As short as I’ve seen them since Pep’s first season.
“I’ve not seen them as bad as this, how they’ve been in the last few weeks. He will have wanted that international break to come, thinking it would be a reset moment. But now here, it further entrenches the opinion this is a City side currently in decline.
“It seems madness, when you think about what they’ve achieved. They’re easy to play against and teams are encouraged when playing them. The vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see.”
Speaking about the absence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri through a long-term injury, Neville added: “This is more than just Rodri, far more,’ he said. ‘When you’re on the decline – and I hate to use the word decline, but it does feel like it – it’s a group of players with a number of things [going wrong].
“The idea of growing slightly old together, the idea of playing the volume of games together, the physical and mental demands of that, and the third thing is how many times you can keep going. It’s a group of players who have run a million miles. They’ve been sensational. But they’ve become a little bit punch-drunk. Leggy, lacking in energy, they’ve lost players and a couple of vital players out through injury.
“It’s a big game next week, Liverpool vs City, and there’s only a few points in it, there’s a long way to go, but it feels like today, if Man City were to win the title this season, I think it would be Pep’s greatest Premier League.”
It is hard to disagree with the former England right-back. City’s miserable run, which stretch back to the end of October, features two losses to Tottenham, shock defeats away to Bournemouth and Brighton, and a chastening loss to now-United manager Ruben Amorim’s Sporting CP. While lack of key personnel can be blamed to an extent, there appears to be something fundamentally wrong.
It speaks volumes that in all five of these defeats, City have had more shots and more possession than their less illustrious opponents. However, with their defence looking far from reassured in recent games, they have punished in turn by either lightning counter-attacks or more clinical finishing than their own, despite the presence of Erling Haaland.
With such an unexpected dip in form, Guardiola now needs to be show why he is so respected among his peers. City need to rediscover something close to their best form promptly, as with the busy festive period about to commence, they cannot afford to go into a tricky run of games with a lack of belief and low morale.
They return to action on Tuesday at home to Feyenoord in the Champions League before a huge visit to Liverpool in the Premier League.
