Manchester City ‘couldn’t have hoped for a better match’ to rebound from their 2-0 defeat to Juventus on Wednesday than Sunday’s derby against Manchester United.
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This is the opinion of former United star Rio Ferdinand, although the ex-England captain thinks ..Continue Reading
The defeat has left City with just one win in their last 10 matches across all competitions, placing them in a precarious position, 22nd in the Champions League group stage with two games left.
Aiming for a record-breaking fifth consecutive Premier League title, Manchester City’s poor form has dropped them to fourth in the league, eight points behind Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
Guardiola’s team will face local rivals Manchester United this weekend, and Ferdinand anticipates another challenging day for City.
United, currently 13th in the Premier League, head to the Etihad Stadium after losing their last two matches under Erik ten Hag’s successor, Ruben Amorim.
Speaking after Man City lost to a Juventus team currently just sixth in Serie A, Ferdinand told TNT Sports: ‘Man City couldn’t ask for a better game than the one that’s coming up this weekend by the way. The Manchester derby.
‘If they want to get themselves back on track, beating United won’t reinstall every bit of confidence and paper over all the cracks but it will go a long way to reinvigorating this team and squad if they were to get a result.
‘But I’m backing the mighty Reds. They’re in great form as well by the way! It’s a battle of no confidence.’
Despite dominating possession with nearly 70% of the ball at the Allianz Stadium, Manchester City fell to second-half goals from Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie.
After watching City’s malaise continue, Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘The saddest thing about Manchester City tonight is are you really shocked? I’m not.
‘The way they have been playing recently, the tiredness, we know about the injuries, playing players he’d rather rest.
‘At the moment it’s just hell on hell for Manchester City supporters. They look to me like a team that is not capable of doing it at the intensity they need to do it, at the top level to win these games week after week.’
City’s Ilkay Gundogan, meanwhile, said: ‘It’s very disappointing. We had chances to score a few goals but at the moment it feels like every attack we concede is just so dangerous.
‘I don’t know, I have a feeling sometimes we are a bit careless with duels, instead of playing simple we overcomplicate things and we missed the right timing to release the ball. Just lose the ball and give them counter attacks.
‘We are built for possession, keep the ball, be strong, if you can’t do anything don’t lose it. At the moment it’s not working out for us.’
