Pep Guardiola has made some extremely surprising comments following his side’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at the weekend.
Manchester City’s defeat sees them lie six points behind Leicester City, who are in 2nd, and a whopping 14 points behind Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Instead of suggesting his team fill fight until the end, Pep has intimated his players are simply not cut out to challenge the likes of Liverpool and the rest of Europe’s elite – oddly naming United amongst the list.
“We have to improve and accept it and move forward,” Guardiola told BBC Sport.
“[Manchester] United have the quality to defend and the quality to attack on the counter-attack and you have to accept that.
“That is the level we face against Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus. They are the teams we have to face and the reality is maybe we are not able now to compete with them.
“Maybe we need to live that as a club to improve, to accept the reality now and improve.”
Guardiola’s City team have been almost invincible for two Premier League seasons, racking up 100 and then 98 points in title winning campaigns – but it feels like the wheels may be coming off.
This term, they’ve already lost four matches – and the complaints about VAR should not hide repeatedly poor defending from whoever it is who get the nod.
Yes, they’ve missed Aymeric Laporte, but John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi are multi-million pound Premier League champions.
We’re not writing City off, even if Pep is. They’re simply too good a side, and we will be watching with intrigue when they face Leicester in 11 days’ time.