Manchester City dropped more points in the title race against Tottenham on Saturday evening – and their latest defeat has raised even more questions over their title credentials
Gary Neville has questioned whether Manchester City are a team in decline after saying Pep Guardiola’s side currently look ‘as bad as he’s ever seen them’.
The Premier League champions fell to a fifth consecutive defeat on Saturday evening as they were thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham at The Etihad.
City could find themselves eight points behind league leaders Liverpool when they meet in a huge title showdown next week – and Neville feels the champions’ issues run deep.
“We’ve seen City lose the odd game here, but we’ve very rarely seen them outplayed in every department, but that’s what we’re watching,” he told Sky Sports.
“They look well short. As short as I’ve seen them since Pep’s first season. I’ve not seen them as bad as this, how they’ve been in the last few weeks.”
The fact that City have been unable to arrest their slide after the international break will only spark further questions about their title hopes, which appear bleaker by the week.
Neville continued: “[Guardiola] will have wanted that international break to come, thinking it would be a reset moment. But now here, it further entrenches the opinion this is a City side currently in decline.
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“It seems madness, when you think about what they’ve achieved. They’re easy to play against and teams are encouraged when playing them. The vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see.”
Guardiola looked glum on the sidelines as his team were taken to the cleaners by Spurs, who moved into the top-six after ending City’s 52-match unbeaten home run.
The Manchester City boss admitted his team were fragile defensively post-match and they have been far poor without Rodri, who sustained a serious injury earlier in the campaign. But Neville tore into Kyle Walker after the Spurs match, saying the veteran defender has been miles off it.
“Goodness gracious me,” he said after Walker was beaten by Timo Werner for Tottenham’s fourth goal. “You don’t see that very often, but we’ve seen it a few times in the last couple of weeks. Vinicius Junior, Mbappe, he’s handled them all, Walker, but he’s struggling at this moment in time.”
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