Man City ‘weak and fragile’ but Guardiola defends team after Feyenoord loss

Man City manager admits his squad are defensively ‘not stable’ aft conceding 3 goals successful 15 minutes successful the Champions League.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted his team’s antiaircraft failings, terming them “weak and fragile” aft the English Premier League champions blew a 3-0 lead successful the last 15 minutes of their UEFA Champions League lucifer against Feyenoord to extremity the crippled connected a 3-3 scoreline.

The gully connected Tuesday did drawback City’s five-game losing streak but did small to animate assurance up of Sunday’s daunting travel to Liverpool.

City’s players were booed by their ain fans arsenic jeers rang astir the stadium aft the last whistle.

It is the archetypal clip City failed to triumph a lucifer they led by 3 goals since 1989 and the archetypal clip ever it had happened successful the last 15 minutes of a Champions League game.

“We concede a batch of goals due to the fact that we are not stable,” said Guardiola. “We springiness them the archetypal and the different ones and that is wherefore it is difficult.”

Erling Haaland had struck twice, either broadside of Ilkay Gundogan’s deflected effort, to enactment City successful a commanding presumption astatine the Etihad Stadium.

“We mislaid a batch of games lately. We are fragile and of people we request a victory,” added Guardiola.

Guardiola’s men person won conscionable 2 of their opening 5 Champions League matches, leaving them enactment to bash successful upcoming distant games astatine Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.

City are 15th successful the 36-team array with 8 points, 1 up of Feyenoord successful 20th place.

Liverpool already bask an eight-point pb implicit City astatine the apical of the Premier League and Guardiola antecedently conceded an 11-point spread would beryllium excessively overmuch to bridge, adjacent for a broadside that person won a grounds 4 consecutive English top-flight titles.

1 – For the archetypal clip successful what was the 942nd crippled of his managerial career, Pep Guardiola has seen his broadside neglect to triumph a lucifer aft starring by 3 goals. Remarkable. pic.twitter.com/1Ehm11ax8D

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 26, 2024

“Rest 1 oregon 2 days, wide the caput mentally, and deliberation of the adjacent [game],” said Guardiola erstwhile asked however helium would respond.

However, amid the worst losing streak of his career, Guardiola is much determined than ever to instrumentality to the plan.

“What should I change?” helium asked. “We are not going to alteration our beliefs. We are large believers successful the process and the fundamentals that we person to do.

“In this infinitesimal we person to spell much nonstop to our principles. Don’t alteration overmuch – little than ever.”