Gary Neville maintains that “there’s undoubtedly something happening in the dressing room” at Man City after Pep Guardiola excluded Kevin de Bruyne from the match against Liverpool.
The Citizens struggled for a large part of the match at Anfield, with goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah earning the Reds the three points.
Liverpool, the Premier League leaders, now have an 11-point advantage over the defending champions, Man City, who have fallen to fifth place in the league table.
Man City has suffered defeats in their last four Premier League games and remains without a win in seven matches across all competitions as Guardiola faces challenges with several injury problems and a decline in performance.
De Bruyne, who had connections to a transfer to Saudi Arabia during the summer, has only featured in four Premier League games as a starter this season, partially due to injury but also because Guardiola has opted to place him on the bench for recent matches.
Once again at Anfield, De Bruyne was utilized for only 12 minutes, even though Man City trailed for most of the game.
Commenting on Man City’s difficulties this season, Neville mentioned on his Sky Sports podcast: “I expected Liverpool to triumph today.” The city has been terrible. They appeared defeated. The selection choices made by Pep Guardiola…we can assert he’s a genius, he’s remarkable, he’s among the greatest thinkers ever, and mention, I don’t believe he executed it correctly, without showing any disrespect. Simply a remark.
“We watched Rico Lewis perform in front of Kyle Walker last weekend against Tottenham.” It failed to function. How would Nunes operate on the left side in a flat midfield four? Once more, it failed to succeed. He replaced both of them after an hour, indicating that it clearly didn’t succeed. From the very beginning of the game, there were issues for City.
“I was astonished by how they arranged things.” However, Liverpool emerges as the main favorites for the title today.
“Rodri, we’ll continue to bring it up indefinitely, but eventually the exhaustion, the tiredness, a few poor results hit, and then the confidence begins to fade.”
“Due to exhaustion and tiredness, losing athletes, injuries, self-assurance, faith, before you realize, it all seems to vanish, which is why I believe no one is truly criticizing Pep Guardiola or Manchester City right now.”
“These individuals we see on the field in their blue jerseys today are established champions; they don’t need to demonstrate their worth regarding the five or six Premier League titles many of them possess.”
“At a certain stage, after you’ve ascended peak after peak, it strikes you, and that’s what’s occurring; we’re witnessing a set of players who, right now, are unable to achieve more than their current efforts, which appears quite humbling.”
“They appear incredibly vulnerable, they seem defeated on the field, the defenders are shattered, the midfielders seem feeble, they look as though they’re being overwhelmed, outplayed, the forwards don’t seem likely to score at all.” They simply appear less threatening; the patterns we’ve traditionally observed in the City are no longer present.
“During his time at the club, Pep Guardiola has constructed two remarkable football teams, and he now faces the task of building a third.” That doesn’t imply a rebuild involving altering ten players; it’s likely about bringing in just two, three, or four players at most while letting go of two, three, or four players as well. Typically, City utilizes around 16 to 18 players, meaning you’re discussing altering about a quarter of your team by swapping players in and out.
“The situation with Kevin De Bruyne is uncommon, odd, peculiar.” Why is he not out there, considering he is likely the best player the Premier League has seen in the last decade? We understand he has faced injuries, but why isn’t he playing, as he is a leader, possesses authority, has confidence, and displays brilliance. “Something is happening, something is surely happening in the dressing room, there is something going on.”
