After Manchester United pulled off a spectacular late comeback to win the derby 2-1 and hand the crisis-hit champions their eighth loss in 11 games, Pep Guardiola said bluntly that he is “not good enough” as manager of Manchester City.
While Bernardo Silva claimed his team “played like the Under-15 team” at the Etihad, City player Phil Foden accused his club of “youth-team defending” following the match.
Only a month after agreeing to a two-year contract extension as manager, Guardiola said that he is no longer good enough for the team after City fell to fifth place in the Premier League, nine points behind leaders Liverpool who had played one fewer game.
“I’m the manager, I’m the boss, and I’m not good enough,” Guardiola declared. “I need to find a solution; that’s all there is to it. The fact is, I’m not doing well.
“It’s what it is.” What shall I say? We can’t blame this player or that one; it’s not that. It’s the season—a difficult season.
“We did not play our best. We are not at our best and are struggling a little. This is now 8 out of 11, which is abnormal, and something is wrong.
It’s becoming increasingly worse. I must solve the problem. I’ve not found it yet.
The team’s current run of results is the worst since 2003 when they only managed one victory in 18 games. And senior players questioned City’s effort after the way they lost to United, as the Reds scored twice in the closing seconds with a penalty from Bruno Fernandes and a winner from Amad Diallo.
“It was youth-team defending,” Foden said to the BBC. “It seems to be the story at the moment I don’t know what happens but we switch off and they score two goals.”
In the meantime, Silva, a midfielder, claimed that City should have lost.
“We deserved what happened,” he said to Sky Sports.” “A game or two at this level are unlucky. Ten games isn’t about luck, thus we can’t say if this is lucky or not. There have been a lot of games lately, not just one. We need to examine ourselves. “Oh, it’s a little unlucky,” you may say. It is what you choose to do. Today, we played like the under-15s in the final minute.
Guardiola and City’s next game comes against Aston Villa in the Premier League, where they will attempt to get back on track.
