Ilkay Gundogan questions Manchester City mentality but Pep Guardiola 'proud' despite Juventus defeat in Champions League
Published 12/12/2024 at 00:02 GMT
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Ilkay Gundogan and Pep Guardiola appeared to disagree in their review of another defeat for Manchester City, after falling to a 2-0 reverse at Juventus in the UEFA Champions League. Midfielder Gundogan called on his team-mates to "sacrifice more", while Guardiola took a more positive viewpoint, praising his players for a strong performance despite the scoreline.
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Ilkay Gundogan and Pep Guardiola gave differing assessments after Manchester City's 2-0 defeat to Juventus in the UEFA Champions League.
Goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie condemned City to a seventh defeat in 10 games in all competitions and left them in danger of crashing out of the competition at the first hurdle.
Gundogan attempted to dissect another disappointment in his post-match interview, speaking candidly about City's ongoing problems.
"It's very disappointing," he told TNT Sports. "We had chances but at the moment it feels like every attack we concede is so dangerous.
"I have a feeling sometimes we are a bit careless in the duels, and sometimes we overcomplicate things.
"We lose balls in transition and give them counter-attacks and have to chase 50, 60 metres back. We are built for possession, keep the ball, be strong and don't lose the ball.
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"It's a mental issue as well. We miss the ball or lose a duel and you see that we drop and lose the rhythm.
"They don't even need to do much and it has such a big effect on us. We have to do the simple things - this is how you get the confidence back.
"We are in a crucial moment and doing the wrong things. We know exactly what's going wrong. Even today we don't play bad, we play quite good football. It's obvious what's going wrong, but it's trying to find the switch to turn things around.
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"It doesn't feel far off which may sound a bit stupid. Every single player has to question himself and how they can sacrifice more to contribute to the team."
Guardiola, by contrast, insisted his team played well, suggesting that the result was unfortunate after such a positive performance.
"We played really, really good," he said. "We missed the last action, concede a few goals. I'm so proud for the players, they give everything.
"Hopefully we can change the results. I know it's difficult in the Champions League but we played perfectly good."
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Asked if he agreed with Gundogan's claim that City were guilty of overcomplicating things and not keeping it simple, Guardiola said: "No, today we have done it really, really well, before yes.
"We didn't lose many balls, we arrived in the positions but against Italian teams that defend so deep and compact it's not easy.
"We play who we are, but the performance is there. We have two games [in the Champions League], we need one victory. The games against Feyenoord and Inter created the problems.
"When we turn it around we [will] appreciate more what we did in the past."
City travel to Paris Saint-Germain in their next Champions League match, before hosting Club Brugge to finish off the league phase.
Guardiola's side are back in action in the Premier League on Sunday as they face Manchester United in a crucial derby.
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