Micah Richards suspects Pep Guardiola and £54m Man City star ‘rift’ after Liverpool defeat

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The Manchester City dressing room will be one typified by a desire to return to winning ways after their 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield.

Pep Guardiola’s “delusional” admission, as he described is that City will start getting wins under their belt in their subsequent games.

Jeremy Doku assured Manchester City fans that regardless of the Sky Blues’ defeat to Liverpool, they will continue to work and try to get back to winning ways.

Pep Guardiola has reached unchartered territory in his managerial career, failing to win a game in his last seven outings — a crisis he has yet to have experienced throughout his 16-year spell on the sidelines.

Guardiola’s Manchester City side could be at the risk of relinquishing their Premier League title to either Liverpool or Arsenal if they continue to drop crucial points.

A player who has generated quite a lot of conversations despite only playing for 15 minutes on Sunday is Kevin De Bruyne.

• READ MORE: Who is Kevin De Bruyne? Get to know Man City’s £54.5m assist king

Micah Richards on Guardiola and De Bruyne ‘rift’ after Liverpool vs Man City

Manchester City fans slated Pep Guardiola for barely giving the midfield maestro to time to affect the contest after he was introduced to proceedings after the hosts were leading 2-0.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	13	11	1	1	26	8	18	34
2	ArsenalArsenal	13	7	4	2	26	14	12	25
3	ChelseaChelsea	13	7	4	2	26	14	12	25
4	BrightonBrighton	13	6	5	2	22	17	5	23
5	Man CityManchester City	13	7	2	4	22	19	3	23
6	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	13	6	4	3	16	13	3	22
7	TottenhamTottenham	13	6	2	5	28	14	14	20
8	BrentfordBrentford	13	6	2	5	26	23	3	20

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Micah Richards suspected there could be bad blood between De Bruyne and Guardiola due to his lack of significant playing time since returning from injury.

“There’s got to be some context to it because there’s no way, and this goes back from before the international break. [Kevin] De Bruyne got some minutes and after international break, he didn’t start and then he hasn’t started again.”

“But he’s the one that could unlock a door. We know with Kevin De Bruyne, we’ve got to wrap him in cotton wool, especially in previous seasons. But in a big game like this, I thought he was sort of saving him for this game.”

Richards added: “But even just like the talks and potentially going to Saudi at the end of the year, it looks to me like there’s some sort of rift going on between them. I’m not saying that because I know that, but I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t start him in the biggest of games of the season. And even if you like start him and bring him off after 60 minutes and get the confidence going that way, I just think it’s too little, too late. And yeah, he had his big opportunity. He didn’t capitalize on it. He didn’t take it.”

Jamie Carragher’s suspicion about De Bruyne and Pep Guardiola having some sort of a rift was the same as that of Micah Richards.

De Bruyne’s contract expires in 2025 and his ongoing issues with playing regular football only add to the uncertainty surrounding his future.

Richards suspects unhappy Man City dressing room

The £54.5 million man will be hoping to put an end to such noise and doing what he does best on the pitch.

The most the six-time Premier League winner has played in recent weeks is his 22-minute cameo off the bench against Feyenoord in the Champions League.

But Micah Richards added that the Manchester City dressing room may be an unhappy one at the minute as well.

“But even like [Jack] Grealish as well, it was calling out for a Grealish or a [Jeremy] Doku. I don’t know what’s happening in the camp, but it doesn’t seem happy like we’ve seen before. I don’t, yeah, something is amiss.”

De Bruyne disagreed with Bernardo Silva after his comments that Manchester City were in a “dark place” but simultaneously, he admitted that after disappointing results, it is natural that spirits are not sky high.