Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola locked his players in the dressing room for around 45 minutes, following his side’s defeat at Tottenham. Goals from Steven Bergwijn and Heung-min Son did the damage, which means Liverpool are just six wins away from their first-ever Premier League title.
In truth, it was a match that City should never have lost.
They had plenty of chances in the first half, including a penalty from Ilkay Gundogan that was saved by Hugo Lloris.
Sergio Aguero also hit the post, before missing a sitter from just six yards.
They were made to pay after the interval when Oleksandr Zinchenko was shown a second yellow card.
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And when asked whether he was critical of his players, Pep responded: “Never, with this performance?
“How should I be critical of my players with this performance?
“With this performance it would be a incredible mistake to point to them and say how bad they are, it is not true.
“It’s not football, football is to create chances and concede few.
“To believe in this concept, you are closer to win the game. Few times this season it did happen and it happened.”
Pundit Graeme Souness believes City are paying the price for failing to build on last season’s success, citing their summer transfer business as substandard.
“You wouldn’t have said that at the start of the season,” he told Sky Sports.
“You can trace this back to August and the Vincent Kompany situation.
“Did they know that was coming? They didn’t know their best central defensive partnership and they went and bought another full back in Joao Cancelo.
“That’s come back to haunt them as they’ve taken their mainstay out of the midfield Fernandinho, your best holding midfield player. That weakened the midfield and has caused a major issue.
“Sergio Aguero’s goals are still there, but in the wider areas there’s enough there even though Raheem Sterling has gone off the boil. In the centre of midfield, David Silva is going, Bernardo Silva comes in and Ilkay Gundogan’s still there and they’ve got the best one of all in Kevin De Bruyne.
“They certainly need another centre half and will start to look long term at who will replace Sergio Aguero, but I don’t see City as being a side that’s in a crisis.
“Some of the football they played today was sensational. Right now, there’s not a lot wrong with City.”