Guardiola faces tough questions as City collapse continues

Manchester City has never had it this bad under Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola has never had it this bad in his managerial career.

A sense of crisis is looming over the English Champion after it lost 2-1 at Brighton — a fourth straight defeat across all competitions — and slipped five points behind Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday. Liverpool, meanwhile, tightened its grip on first place by beating Aston Villa 2-0, with goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah.

Second-placed City hasn't lost four games in a row since 2006 — two years before the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club and 10 years before Guardiola's game-changing arrival in the blue side of Manchester.

As for Guardiola, widely regarded as the world's best coach, the only other time he lost four straight matches in his illustrious managerial career, which began in 2007, was during the 2014-15 season when he was at Bayern Munich. His team lost in a penalty shootout in the German Cup followed by three straight defeats — two in the Bundesliga, when Bayern had already clinched the title, and once in the Champions League.

So, Guardiola was asked if this signaled the end of an era, after leading City to an unprecedented four straight top-flight league titles?

"It's what the people want, right?" he posed. "That's normal — we won a lot. I would just like to have all the squad (available)."

That won't be happening anytime soon, considering star center midfielder Rodri, this year's Ballon d'Or winner, is out for the season with an ACL injury. Guardiola also had his best four centerbacks — Ruben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake — unavailable, while playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is clearly still not sharp or fit enough following his return from injury.

"When we play badly, I am the first to say, 'I don't like it', but I don't have that feeling," Guardiola said.

Indeed, City was dominant in the first half, and went in front when Erling Haaland scored his league-leading 12th goal of the campaign.

However, like in the 4-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday, City couldn't maintain its level in the second half, and Brighton fought back, with Joao Pedro equalizing in the 78th minute and setting up Premier League debutant Matt O'Riley for the winner in the 83rd.

City's losing run started at Tottenham in the English League Cup last week, before a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth in the league — its first league defeat in 11 months.

For Guardiola, it's simple. City's squad cannot cope with all of its injuries, as the fixtures continue to come thick and fast.

"We cannot do it every three days, three days, four days, three days with the (injury) situation we have," he said, adding with an air of desperation, "I would love to have the players (back)."

Fortunately for Guardiola, City's next game is after the international break, at home to Tottenham in the league.

"I will reflect in these ten days. Clear our heads, players come back fit, this is the target," Guardiola, told reporters.

"We try to analyze how we perform — four in a row. Okay. The question is, how are we playing? The level we're playing at is really good in certain moments, but we are not able to keep it up."

Salah inspires Liverpool

Liverpool has won nine of its 11 league games in a breathtaking start under new manager Arne Slot, who has got Salah playing in top form.

Salah set up Nunez after a fast breakaway in the 20th minute, before scoring himself on another counterattack in the 84th for his 10th goal of the season.

"If you asked me before the season started, I would not say we were candidates," Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister said about his team's title chances, "but now it looks like (we are)."

It wasn't all good news for Slot's side, though, as Trent Alexander-Arnold was forced off with a suspected hamstring injury in the first half.

Agencies