Manchester City’s Performance Decline Appears Persistent

Following their 2-0 defeat by Juventus, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team has recorded only one victory in 10 matches across all competitions. On BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, City supporter Rachel Herdson was asked if she concurred with Guardiola’s optimistic remarks regarding their performance. She responded, “Quite frankly I don’t because he said ‘we are the best’.” Herdson added, “Well, the league doesn’t really reflect that anymore unfortunately.” Herdson continued, stating, “I’ve been speaking to you guys about what I thought was a small dip in form but now it seems to be a full-on crisis. You try to remain calm and rational but what’s really worrying is the level of performance and the level of drop-off.” She further commented, “The really poor form continues and it doesn’t look like halting any time soon.” Herdson also expressed, “Even when we get a couple of players back to full fitness, the fact now it feels like a mentality and confidence thing is really concerning.” Regarding Guardiola’s efforts to maintain positivity, Herdson stated, “It’s very difficult for us to be scathing of a manager and players who’ve brought us so much recent success. The reality is, unfortunately, Pep is part of the problem because of his reluctance to not deviate from tactics that have served us so well in the past.” She concluded her point by saying, “Unfortunately that game just does not suit us anymore. Now’s the time to change.” Michael Brown, a former City midfielder, added, “When they fielded the team that they did, you do still expect them to go and get a result. It’s difficult times – it’s fragile. Talking about lacking in confidence, making the wrong mistakes, the wrong choices but I just think there’s pure fatigue now with the group.” He further suggested, “You look at the youngsters on the bench. They’ve just maybe not got enough squad depth.”