Manchester City are in crisis, having lost for a fifth successive game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester City were thrashed 4-0 at the weekend at the Etihad Stadium, handing Pep Guardiola an unwanted blemish on his managerial record.
The Spaniard had never lost five games in a row before, and he now has to stop the rot with Feyenoord up next in the Champions League.
This is not a situation find themselves in very often.
There are several problems at the moment and Guardiola has plenty of work to do to get the team back on track.
Recently, Bernardo Silva suggested that City were in a bit of a dark place – but Kevin De Bruyne has today used a different term to describe the mood.
Kevin De Bruyne says it’s been ‘chaotic’ at Man City
After the chastening 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP, Bernardo Silva spoke after and said: “Disappointing, we’re a bit in a dark place right now and everything looks to be going way even when we play well we don’t score our chances. We concede too easily.
“So definitely we need to look inside and check what we’re not doing well, and start being better very quickly. Otherwise, it will be difficult to come back from these losses.”
Today, the suggestion that City are in a dark place was put to Kevin De Bruyne, who faced reporters ahead of the Champions League game with Feyenoord.
The Belgian doesn’t necessarily feel the club is in a dark place, but he doesn’t deny everything is settled.
He said: “I wouldn’t say dark, I’d say it’s been a bit chaotic before. I’ve seen so many people pass around the medical area, sports science, who’s playing, not playing.
“There’s been people playing who shouldn’t be playing, but played anyway with an injury…
“These games with Sporting, Brighton and Bournemouth was a bit all over the place. Before the Tottenham game, it seemed pretty much all right to me. Obviously then we had the defeat, so we just had yesterday which was a bit quiet. But then for the rest, I didn’t see too much change.”
City have missed De Bruyne badly
As poor as City have been defensively this season, De Bruyne has also been badly missed, especially during this five-game losing run.
We saw on Saturday against Spurs how creative he was as soon as he came on, and he did much more than Phil Foden and Bernardo in terms of getting the ball into the final third.
City fans are desperately hoping to see him start again.
| De Bruyne for Man City this season |
| Appearances – 9 |
| Minutes played – 441 |
| Goals – 1 |
| Assists – 1 |
He’s been back in training for a while now, and the maestro gave the impression today at the press conference that he’s pretty much back to full fitness now.
He suggested his injury has been complicated, but hopefully he’s turned a corner and he can start properly building his minutes again.
In an ideal world, he will enjoy a similar season to 2023/24, when he returned for the second half and shone.
