JACK GAUGHAN: Insiders reveal clashes as Guardiola battles Man City’s slump

Nearly all the lights were out by the time Pep Guardiola began his two-and-a-half mile journey home, winding past the National Football Museum, packed with Manchester City memorabilia of past and recent glories.

It was well past midnight at this point and the Etihad Stadium was empty. Eerily empty. Players had long since fled the scene of City's self-inflicted tragedy, that barely believable 3-3 draw against a Feyenoord team who had flooded the ground for commemorative photos, and whose director general had joked with player of the match Hadj Moussa that the club now sold him to the Premier League champions.

Bearing the physical scars of the most worrying month of his career, Guardiola was long afterwards confined to his office, holding debriefings and consumed by his own thoughts. Sources said he appeared lost as he returned to the dressing room, powerless to stop the 15-minute capitulation – something City have managed before but not quite to this extent.

You imagine that that long period of contemplation had a dual purpose: processing what and how that just happened, while nervously wondering about the weekend. Liverpool away. Not a happy journey for a fully fit and burning city, let alone this current iteration. They have won once at Anfield in the last 21 years: a 4-1 victory behind closed doors in the 2020-2021 Covid season, when the depleted hosts were without Virgil van Dijk and in the midst of losing six home games in a row.

There is no tougher task in Europe today and Guardiola must come up with an answer. Maybe those hours in the office provided a light bulb moment; We'll find out at Anfield. City will have to hope so, as defeat would mean an 11-point deficit, which even before Christmas and even for them, seems as insurmountable as logically possible.

The problem with Guardiola, however, is that he has tried everything for weeks – and is starting to look exhausted, with a sad expression as he parked up for work on Wednesday morning.

After the defeat at Bournemouth, a long team meeting followed, in which opinions on performance were expressed. Other times he has told them they are great, lest they forget what they accomplished a few months ago.

He has accepted the injury list and, furthermore, the nuance of owning medically available players who are unable to compete properly due to their fitness. He realizes all this and has communicated it publicly and privately; In the meantime, the team has not been able to use any of it as motivation.

Looking at how they start games, nothing really seems problematic. On numerous occasions, City should have taken commanding leads but wasted opportunities – the 4-0 against Tottenham last week was a perfect example of this. Again, that's not overly new. The new thing is that they don't then ruthlessly cut teams open and leak goals like it's 2016. Statistically, they give away more opportunities than they create. Guardiola. City. It's unheard of.

Even with 17 goals in all competitions, Erling Haaland is underperforming his xG (expected goals) by one goal, indicating his finishing is not up to usual standards. But that is not the fundamental problem. According to the xG list, Phil Foden is the next highest expected scorer with 2.8 goals. Ilkay Gundogan is rated at 2.6, but is now needed in defensive midfield due to Mateo Kovacic's injury. If it's not Haaland, it's no one.

And the suffering that the lack of creativity – alongside a defensive vulnerability accentuated by their high line – causes was evident in the dressing room on Tuesday night. Guardiola's stewardship has always pushed players to hold each other accountable. The fact that there were raised voices and that individuals and units were called out will probably have given him some hope for the near future.

Objects were thrown in frustration. Not surprising given the general dissatisfaction. Gundogan – who captained the club when they won the Treble 18 months ago – came out and admitted a routine 2-0 defeat to Feyenoord wouldn't have felt so bad. Just a reminder: they signed. A day off on Thursday provided some relief from the gloom.

There seemed to be a little more fire in the reaction than after Tottenham – and not because Feyenoord's result means that reaching the Champions League top eight and avoiding a play-off round will now likely depend on wins away at Juventus and Paris Saint Germain.

Sunday's warm-down session after Spurs at the City Football Academy, across the road from the Etihad, was described as 'very quiet'. Guardiola usually likes a Sunday and always coaches those who haven't played the day before.

This week was solemn for a group whose leadership team – Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Gundogan, without the injured Rodri – agreed that this was not the time for a major crisis meeting.

So disconsolate on Saturday, only Walker and the manager could be persuaded to do post-match television interviews for the long line of international broadcasters. No one raised their hand for that. Rafael Nadal's pre-arranged visit to City's base on Wednesday, where he spent time with the players, will have lifted some spirits. Asked about Nadal, Guardiola said on Friday that the Spaniard is proof that great champions cannot continue their dominance forever.

The messages coming in this week from people around the team echoed what supporters are saying. “I can't believe it,” one read. “This is crazy,” said another.

Guardiola's new contract is yet to materialise, and the team have since conceded seven goals in two home games. The Catalan – who was less than happy that news of his surprise extension had emerged two days before the planned announcement – experienced the same thing when he signed a new contract in 2020, although the reasons are completely different.

Then City were just coming out of the drawn-out trauma of that infamous European defeat to Lyon, in a Covid quarter-final they were expected to get through. They recovered from a slump to win the title that year.

This slump is because history was made six months ago with the fourth national title in a row. And while he has consistently insisted that the age of his squad has not gotten too old, the prevailing feeling from outside is the opposite.

On the face of it, City's transfer activities over the past two years have not been easy to manage for outgoing sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who this week was named Manager of the Year at the Golden Boy Awards. Guardiola is rightly loyal to a more experienced group that has been putting in great performances for seasons. Unwilling to dislodge these while still performing at the highest level, City contracted the cavalry instead of the front line.

Some of the raw younger talent – ​​Jeremy Doku, Savinho – have not been ready for the weekly rigors and are not producing Riyad Mahrez's songs. Others who signed at their peak – Kovacic, Matheus Nunes – are clearly not as good as what came before. Whatever the circumstance – De Bruyne's injury, Rodri's absence, Gundogan and Jack Grealish's dips – have ultimately had a damaging effect greater than anything we have seen before.

Could they have been more ruthless in this area? Certainly. But then Guardiola fought hard to keep Walker after the Treble, when Bayern Munich made an attractive offer and clearly felt that losing the right-back was not something they could handle.

De Bruyne's revival after five months away last year has been fascinating. His comeback for Newcastle, scoring and assisting Oscar Bobb's late winner, will go down as one of the greatest substitutes of all time.

The workforce will not change drastically in the short term and it was notable to hear that at least one player was recently reprimanded in training for failing to concentrate properly during a tactical exercise. There is a growing feeling within the industry that City will look to sign a midfielder in January, Mail Sport revealed on Monday. Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi, Atalanta's Ederson and Adam Wharton have all been monitored and a fresh face will provide a boost and offer the chosen player an introductory period ahead of next season, in a way that really benefited Aymeric. Laporte when he signed in the winter of 2018.

However, there are still eight matches before the January window opens. The Christmas logja includes Manchester United and Aston Villa away. Supporters are already preparing for the festive period and, in response to this slump, are having inglorious scarves made with the text 'All I Want for Christmas is Three Points'. Ironic, sort of. Their humor – and it is a fan base whose competitive element is still known for their humor – was on display last Saturday evening at Mary D's, a bar next to the stadium.

They sang about 'City's lost five in a row', changing the lyrics of a song about title wins to deal with the format. And the team had noticed and appreciated how thousands remained in their seats to applaud them after Spurs, singing defiantly, in what should have been a moment of excitement.

The collapse of Feyenoord three days later suggested otherwise and there was constant booing, something Guardiola said he fully understood and sympathized with.

There is some debate among supporters as to whether mocking is appropriate or not given the unprecedented success of the past ten to fifteen years, and this can often be framed nostalgically. The fact that City once lost to York City in 1998, a day accepted as their low point in the third tier, does not mean that booing is now wrong.

Maybe the players actually needed a little of that at the end of a terrible month. Guardiola has won six times without winning once before. Never sift. He endures bad weeks, not bad months. November is over, although the problem is that December doesn't seem particularly appealing either.