‘It seems madness’: One word City won’t want to hear as Pep makes big admission after shock loss

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted “in eight years we have never lived this kind of situation” after Tottenham won 4-0 at the Etihad to condemn the Premier League champions to a fifth straight defeat in all competitions.

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James Maddison marked his 28th birthday with two first-half goals before Pedro Porro scored against his former club, with Brennan Johnson completing the rout.

Defeat meant the end of City’s 52-game unbeaten home run and left them on a losing streak unlike anything else Guardiola has experienced since arriving in Manchester in 2016.

They also remain five points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool, with Arne Slot’s side facing bottom club Southampton on Sunday.

City travel to Liverpool next weekend and Guardiola conceded their defence of the title is realistically over should they lose and fall 11 points behind the Reds.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss only this week signed a two-year contract extension until 2027.

But hopes that would bring the positivity needed to turn City’s fortunes around proved short-lived.

“In eight years we have never lived this kind of situation,” said Guardiola, whose side face Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“Now we have to live it and break it winning the next games, especially the next one. Now we see things in one way, maybe in a few weeks we see it differently.”

After a bright start, City collapsed when Maddison opened the scoring with virtually Tottenham’s first attack.

Guardiola’s men have rewritten the record books of English football in recent years by winning four consecutive Premier League titles.

But he recognised that they are stuck in a negative mental spiral after a series of unexpected defeats.

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“We are a bit fragile right now, that is obvious for the fact that we struggled today to score goals. And after when they arrived, they scored,” he added.

“We are playing a little bit in our thoughts, with a little bit of negativity, but it’s normal. Football is a sense of mood. And when you win a lot, there’s continuity that gives us self-confidence that you can do it.

“When you lose three games in a row in the Premier League, that situation is always a little bit there.”

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, meanwhile, said he had “not seen them as bad as this” in a damning assessment of City’s struggles.

“He will have wanted that international break to come, thinking it would be a reset moment,” Neville said on Sky Sports.

“But now here, it further entrenches the opinion this is a City side currently in decline.

“It seems madness, when you think about what they’ve achieved. They’re easy to play against and teams are encouraged when playing them. The vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see.”

While injuries, most notably to Rodri, have taken their toll, Neville said it is “far more” than “just Rodri” and even went as far as to say winning the Premier League this season would be Guardiola’s greatest feat.

“When you’re on the decline – and I hate to use the word decline, but it does feel like it – it’s a group of players with a number of things (going wrong),” he said on the Gary Neville Podcast.

“The idea of growing slightly old together, the idea of playing the volume of games together, the physical and mental demands of that, and the third thing is how many times you can keep going.

“I played for a manager and a club who kept going, but there were times when you just fall over. You’ve won the league three times on the bounce, twice, you’ve done doubles, you’ve won trebles, and you just can’t go any further.

“Your shoulders just drop a bit, and it looks like that’s the kind of thing that’s happened here.

“It’s a group of players who have run a million miles. They’ve been sensational. But they’ve become a little bit punch-drunk. Leggy, lacking in energy, they’ve lost players and a couple of vital players out through injury.

“It’s a big game next week, Liverpool vs City, and there’s only a few points in it, there’s a long way to go, but it feels like today, if Man City were to win the title this season, I think it would be Pep’s greatest Premier League.”

City defender Kyle Walker, meanwhile, said it was vital the team went “back to the basics and got a clean sheet”.

He added: “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.”

Despite a 4-1 defeat to Sporting Lisbon last time out in the Champions League, City are still well-placed to reach the knockout stages.

“The best way to turn this round is on Tuesday. Hopefully the mojo comes back and we see the normal City from the past eight seasons,” added Walker.

Even in their best moments, though, City have struggled away at Anfield, where they have not won in front of a crowd since 2003.

“It’s a great game to turn it around and take three points from the team who sit above you,” said Walker on facing Liverpool.

“But we can’t put in a performance like that or we’ll get walked over.”