Pep Guardiola: ‘Self-doubt, errors and big changes – internal crisis at Man City’

Guardiola is also thinking a lot about this. As he has said, he is not sleeping properly and sometimes even while talking to the media, he is not able to sleep properly.

He’s talking to several people about what’s going on and trying to figure out the reasons for City’s demise. Some reasons he knows, some he still doesn’t know.

What people probably don’t realize is that Guardiola doubts himself immensely and always has.

He may be thinking “I’m not going to be able to get us out of this” and to overcome those insecurities he needs the support of those close to him – and he has that.

He is protected by his people who are very aware, as he is, that there are a lot of people who want the city to fail.

It has been a tumultuous time for Guardiola. Remember those marks on his head after the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League?

He always scratches his head, a sign of nervousness. Normally nothing happens, but that day one of his nails was very sharp, so after talking to the players in the changing room, where he scratched his head with his usual agitated expression, he went into the press conference.

His right-hand man Manel Estiarte sent him photos in a message and asked, “What’s on your head?”, but when Guardiola returned to the coaching room there was hardly anything there.

The same thing had happened at the training ground the day before, after which he started the day with a veil over his nose. Guardiola was having a football argument with Kyle Walker about positional things and marked his nose with the same nail.

There was also that notable press conference after the Manchester derby when he said, “I don’t know what to do”.

This is partly true and partly not true.

Never mind the fact that Guardiola suggested he was “not good enough”. What he really meant was that he was not good enough to solve the situation with the group of players he had available and all the other existing difficulties.

There are obviously logical explanations for the crisis and the first has been talked about several times – the absence of injured midfielder Rodri.

Do you know the game Jenga? When you take out the wrong piece, the entire tower collapses. Same thing happened here.

If a player is the best in the world in his position it is normal for teams to rely heavily on him. And you can’t calculate the consequences of an injury that causes a player like Rodri to miss the season.

City are a team, like many modern teams, in which the holding midfielder is a key element of the formation.

So, when you take Rodri out, it’s hard to hold it together. There was Plan B – John Stones, Manuel Akanji, even Nathan Ake – but injuries happened.

The major injury list has been out of the ordinary and the busy calendar has also played a role in complicating issues.

However, one factor that even Guardiola cannot explain is the huge uncharacteristic errors made by international players in almost every game.

Why did Matheus Nunes challenge to give a penalty against Manchester United? Jack Grealish is sent to the end to keep the ball and he can’t do it. There were errors from Walker and other defenders. These are some of the best players in the world.

Undoubtedly the mentality of the players is important and confidence is waning. Wrong decisions are taken, hence instead of peace on the pitch, there is panic.

There are also players who are badly out of form and have to play due to injuries.

Walker is no longer able to hide behind his pace, I’m not sure Kevin De Bruyne will ever get back to the level he used to be at, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan have no time to rest, Grealish is at his best. Not performing.

Some of these players were supposed to play only one game a week, but due to injuries, they have played 12 games in 40 days. It all has a domino effect.

One result is that Erling Haaland is not getting the serve to score. But the Norwegian still remains City’s top scorer with 13. Defender Josko Guardiol is next on the list with just four.

The way their form has been analyzed inside the City camp shows that there have only been three games where they deserved to lose (Liverpool, Bournemouth and Aston Villa). But surely now is the time to change the dynamics.