Man City players know the difficult truth about Pep Guardiola struggle

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Injuries have caused Manchester City to collapse but Manchester City cannot blame injuries for their collapse. It's clear that the loss of all four senior centre-backs to injury at the end of October in their first defeat of the season destabilised the Blues far more than losing Rodri did.

Losing not only the core of the defence but also the first part of the build-up made Pep Guardiola's side worse at both ends of the pitch, and the longer certain players have been out the more that others have been played more than they should and their performance level has gone down further.

That's why the players out there putting in such uncharacteristically poor performances deserve some sympathy. Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan have been two of the most disappointing and the questions over their futures at the club are genuine, but at the same time both have played far more than they would have expected and Walker has also answered his manager's call and played through injuries to help the team. READ MORE: Phil Foden sends Pep Guardiola strong message from Man City players READ MORE: Man City stars given time off after 'unacceptable' Man United collapse At the other end of the age scale, Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol were two of City's brightest players at the beginning of the season but have seen their standards slip as they have played and played and played.

Guardiola admitted at the end of October that Lewis was shattered but said he couldn't rest him because there was nobody else; only Erling Haaland has played more minutes than those two.