Pep Guardiola: “City’s poor run is on everyone and not just Haaland”

The City boss explained that the Norwegian's goal drought is due to the team's poor form.

Current Premier League champions Manchester City have lost nine of their last twelve matches. That's the same number of defeats they had in their previous 106 games. The Sky Blues have gone from heaven to hell this season and their title hopes are quickly fading.

After the defeat to Aston Villa last weekend, City will spend Christmas in seventh place and are currently out of European places. The Catalan coach gave his players a few days off to work before returning to work at Christmas before starting to prepare for the Boxing Day match with Everton.

Why do you think Haaland hasn't scored in recent games?

Well, first of all: Merry Christmas to everyone. The problem is us, not just one player. When Haaland was more productive, it was also for us, for the team. Haaland is very important to us and will remain so. We have to use it better. But it is not a matter of just one player, but of all of them. The boys are running more than ever, but there are some small and some big details that prevent us from being as good as before. On Boxing Day we have the opportunity to try to buy some time so that the injured players can recover.

Will your team come back against Everton?

There is no ideal opponent in this situation. It's about us, getting back to our best level. It will take time. We need to get results as quickly as possible. Now we face Everton who are putting up some decent results and their recent results and performances show that.

Will Stones be available to play against his former team?

Don't know. He was unable to continue at Villa Park in the second half and may therefore not be available. We trained this afternoon, we are looking at which players are available. At this point I don't know.

What are your plans for Christmas?

We train today and tomorrow evening. We spend the night here and play on Boxing Day. The players will be here tonight and tomorrow morning with their families. I hope they will be here tomorrow night, it is our duty.