Manchester City lost their fifth consecutive match for the first time ever under Pep Guardiola on Saturday night.
Specifically, following the November international break, City took on Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium and ended up on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline.
James Maddison scored a brace in the first 20 minutes of the match, with Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson scoring two second-half goals to pile some serious misery on Guardiola’s side.
Having failed to get their form back on track following the final international break of 2024, a key figure in the City team addressed the media to front up about his side’s dismal form, pinpointing one particular factor that has really frustrated him specifically.
Kyle Walker addresses City’s nightmare form after Tottenham thrashing
Speaking to Sky Sports (via Man City) after the Spurs match, Kyle Walker didn’t mince his words regarding the run of form City have been on over the past month.
He said: “It’s hard to stand here and speak about it when I haven’t properly digested it yet. I’ve stood here when we won titles so I’ll stand here for defeats too.
“This is the most frustrating thing as a defender. I don’t care about scoring goals, I’m bothered about clean sheets and we’re not doing that. You have to go back to the basics and get a clean sheet. If we concede four goals at home we have to score five.
“It’s not just the back four, five or six – it’s all 11 players on the pitch.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve lost confidence together. I’ve spent eight years with this group. You lose confidence as a team but we have to remember what we’ve achieved together.
“What we’ve achieved in the past means nothing, it’s history.
“We have one team above us doing really well. We’ll keep fighting to the end as we always do.
“Your powers don’t just go. We know our qualities and weaknesses. You get a win, you get your confidence and we’re back to how we used to feel.”
Walker’s pre-international break demand fell on deaf ears
After the Manchester club’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion just before the November international break, Walker issued a demand to his City teammates about how they need to react after that game, saying this specifically.
He said: “This is the time where I want to see the players and real characters come through.
“It’s all good for the last eight years when we’ve been winning and dominating games. But now it’s tough, this is the time where us as the senior members have to pull the players through who haven’t been here for a while and show them the foundations of this club.
“We’ve built those foundations over the last eight years and that will get us through this patch.
“It’s football and with the players and manager we have, with the club the fans, it will pass.
“We need to weather the storm and make sure after the international break we come back fit and ready to go for an important part of the season.”
Having now lost to Spurs at home in a rather embarrassing manner, it seems that Walker’s post-Brighton message didn’t sink in with the rest of the City squad.
| Manchester City – 2024/25 | Games | Wins | Draws | Defeats | Goals Scored | Goals Conceded | Clean Sheets |
| Premier League | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 17 | 2 |
| Champions League | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 |
| Carabao Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
With 24 goals conceded across the 18 matches they’ve played across all competitions, it’s understandable why Walker has taken umbrage with this particular aspect of City’s form.
In fact, Guardiola admitted City’s defensive frailties after the Tottenham game.
Taking all of that on board, it’s clear what the Blues need to focus and work on during their time on the training ground ahead of their upcoming domestic and European fixtures.
