Pep Guardiola admits Man City’s dire run is keeping him up at night

Pep Guardiola admits his players are suffering and Manchester City's terrible winless run is causing him to lose sleep.

Five defeats and a draw are the worst run of the Catalan's managerial career. And it doesn't get any easier for City, which visits leader Liverpool on Sunday.

It amounts to the biggest crisis of Guardiola's time in the dugout and he admits he is feeling the tension.

'I don't like it at all. I don't sleep as well as I do when I win every match,” admitted the 53-year-old, who recently signed a two-year contract extension.

'Right now I want to be closer to the players. My hugs and arms are closer to them because I know they are suffering.

'I know they're thinking: 'Oh my God, how can we not beat Feyenoord? Why didn't we score when we had the chances against Spurs?”

“At good times I have to be more aggressive to avoid complacency, but at the moment they want to do it but we are not finding the right way.

'What can I do, blame them? Absolutely not. This will pass – nothing lasts forever.”

Guardiola wants to use the fact that rivals are enjoying City's poor run as motivation.

“As normal in sports, they laugh at your defeats,” he said. “I'm confident that sometimes things won't work, but tomorrow they will.”