Jamie Carragher has said that Manchester City are suffering from a “massive crisis” and that manager Pep Guardiola has “no answers” to it.
City's dreadful run continued on Wednesday evening as they lost 2-0 to Juventus, a result that left their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages in doubt.
Guardiola's team lost seven of the last 10 matches in all competitions, and won only once, in the most difficult period the Catalan coach is going through as a coach.
That is the number of defeats the 53-year-old has suffered in his previous 105 matches as City manager.
And pundit Carragher believes the six-time Premier League winners do not have the answers to lift them out of the slump.
As for what Guardiola is thinking now, Carragher told CBS: “Why did you sign this contract?” That's what he's thinking.
“You can't believe what you're seeing. This is a huge crisis. This was a crisis two or three weeks ago. He's probably the greatest and most successful manager of all time, and he doesn't have the answers to it at the moment. He doesn't.”
“He's tried different things, different systems, maybe players in different positions, and a great manager like him really struggles and finds things difficult.
“He's never been through this before, so he doesn't have any experience in this situation. He doesn't have anything to fall back on and really look at because he's been so successful in the past. It's a real eye-opener.”
“There are probably a lot of coaches around the world looking at Pep with a sarcastic smile. I don't enjoy what he's going through, but I just think: 'Finally, Pep Guardiola is going through something we've all gone through at some point in our careers.'
Guardiola disagrees with Gundogan
Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said after the defeat in Turin that City players were suffering from a loss of confidence, which his coach disagreed with.
Guardiola said: “I do not agree with Ilkay. “Of course it was difficult, but except for one or two games in this period, we played well.”
City is scheduled to meet in the Manchester derby at Etihad Stadium.
Gundogan said TNT Sports: “It's (confidence) a big part of it. That's a mental issue as well.
“You can see that sometimes we lose the ball or lose a duel, you see that we immediately fall down and lose rhythm. They (opponents) don't even need to do much, but it has a big impact on us now. They are able to break our rhythm with the smallest thing.
“Most importantly, you have to do the simple things as creatively and smoothly as possible, and then work hard again. This is how you regain confidence – do the small and simple things, (but) in the crucial moments of the moment, we always do the wrong things.” .
