As the final whistle blew at the Amex, many Brighton fans sang Pep Guardiola's sarcastic words: "You're sacked tomorrow morning." For the first time in his legendary career, Pep has faced such a disastrous run of results on all fronts.
"Of course I will not back down, not even a little bit" - Pep affirmed in the press conference after the match. Previously, after the loss to Sporting in Portugal, Pep shared that he would do everything to bring the team back on track.
The current FIFA Days in November are a valuable time for Pep to think about... leaving Man City. His contract with the Etihad team expires at the end of the season, so now is the right time to think about it if he wants to. Otherwise, Pep will have many days to think about why Man City have lost 4 consecutive matches in 11 days.
The injury storm is something Pep himself has also realised, it is knocking down the reigning English champions on all fronts. Every year, the time before Christmas is also when Man City does not play very well. However, after the new year begins, they always accelerate spectacularly. That is why Man City has won the Premier League 6/7 of the last seasons. However, this time, Pep has a completely different feeling.
"If I say it, many people will think I'm complaining, but in previous seasons, we always had an almost full squad at times like this" - Pep shared.
Jeremy Doku, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker are all out. Those who have just returned like Phil Foden or Ilkay Gundogan cannot return to form immediately.
"Even when we played well, goals still couldn't come. On the contrary, Man City had to concede very easy goals" - Bernardo Silva shared.
"When the players recover, the team will have some of the qualities that are missing because of injuries. I want Man City to always fight to win. It's just that, with the current situation, it's difficult to play at the intensity of 3 matches/day.
After Liverpool won the Champions League, they had to deal with Van Dijk being injured for a whole year. Then a series of injuries came and the team was knocked out of the Top 4. We don't want to fall into that situation but we need to have the players back to stabilize everything" - Pep shared.
Aside from the injury concerns, Pep also hinted that he doesn't like the idea of some of his key players being called up to the national team during FIFA Days in November, like Jack Grealish. Any injury in the next two weeks would be a disaster for Pep. When the club competitions return, Man City will face formidable opponents like Tottenham and Liverpool. If they continue to lose in this stage, things will slide very far.
Between now and the opening of the winter transfer window, finding a replacement for Rodri is impossible. Pep's concerns will increase as his key players return but cannot reach their old form.
