Guardiola: 'It will be a bad season by our standards'

But after five losses in a row, Man City's manager is defiant

- RICHARD JOLLY

Many an adjective has been applied to Pep Guardiola’s allconquering Manchester City over the years. Chaotic, it is safe to say, has not been one of them. Until Kevin De Bruyne started recounting the scenes around the Etihad Campus of late.

“I would say it’s been a bit chaotic,” said the vice-captain. “I’ve seen so many people pass around the medical area: sports science, who’s playing, who’s not playing. There’s been people who shouldn’t be playing but they did anyway, even with an injury.” There have been people who have played badly. The names and faces have been the same but they have not been City; not as we have known them. Lacking control, losing when they used to win, being on the receiving end of 4-1 and 4-0 scorelines.

They are no strangers to 100 per cent records. Now they have the wrong sort: five defeats in their last five games. It is safe to say Guardiola will not win November’s manager-of-the-month award; not when he is the lone manager without a Premier League point in it. City’s last chance of salvaging something from a dreadful month comes against Feyenoord in the Champions League. “Right now, every opponent is tough for us,” shrugged Guardiola. “It doesn’t matter which we are going to play.”

This is a new experience for him. He was defiant and defensive, loyal as well as philosophical. “This too shall pass,” he said. If it will, too, and perhaps at home to Feyenoord tonight, there is a broader question about whether City can recapture past glories. And that, in turn, reflects the levels they reached.