Bernardo Silva revealed Manchester City are “in a dark place” after their 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Sporting in the Champions League, but Pep Guardiola insists he is ready for the challenge and willing to fight as he bids to turn around his side’s fortunes.
Ruben Amorim endeared himself to Manchester United fans before even arriving at Old Trafford by engineering a stunning 4-1 defeat of Manchester City with Sporting in Lisbon.
The Portuguese was taking charge of his final home match as Sporting boss before officially starting work as United’s head coach and watched as his side came from behind to thrash Guardiola’s side.
City took an early lead through Phil Foden but Sporting hit back with a hat-trick that included two penalties from Viktor Gyokeres and a strike by Maximiliano Araujo.
It was the first time City – for whom Erling Haaland missed a penalty – have lost three games in succession since 2018, excluding a later sequence in 2021 that included the Community Shield.
Speaking after City’s heaviest defeat since 2020, Silva said: “It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.
“Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily.
“We need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.
“It’s difficult to find reasons for what is happening to us. It just looks like this team is going the wrong way now.
“Our injured players need to come back because we need them and it’s just not good enough tonight.”
Pep: I don’t agree with Bernardo
Manager Pep Guardiola had a more optimistic outlook and insisted he was relishing the challenge of bouncing back.
The City boss, who takes his side to Brighton on Saturday, said: “I don’t agree with him. We are not in the dark side.
“We played really bad against Bournemouth but really good here. The only regret is conceding the third and fourth – the penalties were not necessary.
“We knew it would be a tough season at the start and this is what it is. I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players. Life is like this. We continue.
“What should we do? We go back to Manchester and prepare for the game at Brighton. I won’t give up, that’s for sure.”
‘We we’re not stable enough’
After making a solid start to the season, City were beaten by Tottenham in the League Cup last week before losing at Bournemouth on Saturday in the Premier League.
Their third straight defeat comes after a host of injuries to key players, including Rodri, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne, who was only fit enough for a brief cameo appearance from the bench at the Jose Alvalade stadium.
City handed a first senior start to 19-year-old centre-back Jahmai Simpson-Pusey amid their injury crisis and Guardiola admitted the changes he’s having to make in his defence are causing issues.
“We had a fantastic first half, now we are struggling to score. We create and concede when the opponents don’t do much,” Guardiola said.
“At 2-1 down, many things can happen. Emotionally we were not stable enough and in this competition you have to be stable.
“Sporting made a good moment, they were fast and scored. It can happen.”
Pep ready to fight
Pressed on the reasons for City’s collapse and whether defensive changes are a problem, Guardiola added: “Maybe. When you play lots of games you cannot play the same line-up and same back four. We have had these problems for day one but it is what it is.
“It is football. Maybe what we lived in the past is the exception. Sometimes you can lose. We were in the position where they punished us for the few they do and we struggled for the chances we had.”
City now head to Brighton on Saturday in the Premier League live on Sky Sports as they look to avoid a fourth straight loss, and Guardiola is up for the fight as he looks to get his side back to winning ways in the Premier League.
“Now is the difficult moment in terms of results but I want to be here. I want to fight and not give up,” he said.
“I like this challenge as a manager I have ahead of me. Who wants to follow us will be there.”
‘No crisis at Man City’
Clinton Morrison on Soccer Special:
“There’s no crisis.
“In the Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham he left Erling Haaland on the bench and Guardiola said afterwards they performed well.
“The Bournemouth defeat, you are worried that they are a bit open but I wouldn’t say there’s a crisis at Man City.
“Against Sporting, it could have been a different scoreline. In the first half, they had to take their chances. you have to score when you are on top.
“However, they are far too open at the moment but there’s no Dias and no Stones. Defensively they weren’t good enough but they missed so many chances.
“When City lose a couple of games there’s always talks of a crisis but they still have the best manager in the world. It is a worry how open they are but come they end of the season I still see them winning trophies.”