Manchester City are in crisis and Pep Guardiola has no answers to their problems, according to Jamie Carragher.
City were beaten 2-0 by Juventus on Wednesday evening, putting their Champions League campaign in huge doubt. Ederson's struggles continued as he failed to keep out a Dusan Vlahovic header before Weston McKennie was left completely unmarked to volley in a second for the home side.
The result means City will almost certainly miss out on automatic qualification for the last 16 of the competition, with Guardiola's side sitting in 22nd place after two wins from their opening six games. City have now won just one of their last ten games in all competitions and lost six of their last seven away games.
Carragher was stunned by their performance in Turin as Juventus recorded 12 clean sheets in 21 games this season. “You can't believe what you see! I mean, this is a huge crisis. This was a crisis two or three weeks ago,” Carragher told CBS Sports.
'The greatest and most successful manager of all time… he has no answers right now! He's tried different systems, players in different positions…
'He's never experienced this before, so he has no experience in this situation. Nothing to fall back on, because he has been so successful in the past! I think many coaches around the world look at Pep with a wry smile and think, 'Finally! Pep Guardiola is experiencing something that we have all experienced at some point in our career!'”
City have two group stage matches remaining in the Champions League this season, with a trip to Paris Saint-Germain followed by a home match against Club Brugge. They are five points behind the top eight, who automatically qualify for the knockout stages, and just three places above the elimination zone.
Ilkay Gundogan believes a lack of self-confidence and a 'mental problem' were to blame for City's loss of rhythm. “At crucial moments we always do the wrong things,” said the City midfielder.
But Guardiola generally defended his side. “I don't agree with Ilkay,” he said. “Of course it's tough. Except for one or two games in this period that were not good, the rest we played well.”
The City boss admitted that automatic qualification was now likely out of his reach, and that he now had a play-off spot in his sights. “It's the target,” Guardiola said. “We need one point, three points. Go to Paris to try and then the last game at home. This is the situation because of the match against Feyenoord. Feyenoord caused problems when it was 3-0 with fifteen minutes to go.
“If we turn this around, we will not forget this period. We will appreciate more what we have done and what we will do in the future.” He added: “I doubt myself in the good and bad moments. The locker room is stable. You have to get up. What can we do? Do you feel sorry for ourselves? It's life, it happens.”
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