Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano will all be involved in Manchester City discussions
Manchester City's slump continued with a toothless 2-0 defeat at Liverpool on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's worst ever run as a manager continued at one of his least favourite grounds as the Blues tasted a sixth defeat in seven games to leave the Catalan's post-match wine feeling less satisfying than ever. Clear heads are needed at the City Football Academy to work out where City go next with questions around a team that has achieved so much.
With a number of problems that have persisted for weeks to plunge City into crisis, Guardiola left Anfield more confident than he arrived but he is still painfully aware that some answers will not be immediate. Here's a look at what City do next as they plan for their short- and long-term future.
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Chairman talks
It sounds dramatic to say chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak will be involved when the reality is he likes to involve himself whatever the situation, but a man who is generally happy to work in the background will want to make sure he knows everything he needs to about City's slump.
That won't take much catching up, since he has been in regular dialogue with Guardiola throughout, yet there will still have been a check-in after Anfield. There is no danger that the manager's position is in doubt despite the chants of the Anfield crowd, although it will be worth both sides reaffirming that they are still on the same page when it comes to the rebuild that comes next.
January plans
Guardiola will also sit down with sporting director Txiki Begiristain, as he does most mornings. The manager credits Begiristain with having a cool temperament that can calm him down, and judging by Sunday there will be little need for that.
There will also be an urgent need to address the problems in the squad though in what is Begiristain's final year at the club. Having built up a reputation as the best in the business, the last thing he will want to do is leave the club after failing to deliver the rebuild needed.
With significant changes to the squad pencilled in for the summer, Guardiola and Begiristain will see whether it is worth bringing any of those plans forward in order to ensure City stay competitive this season and do not fall out of the Champions League places.
Squad reset
Nottingham Forest. That was the mantra of Ruben Dias when he was interviewed after the game by Norwegian broadcasters. Asked for insight into the interrogations that are going on at the club to reverse their slump, the defender defiantly responded: "Do you know that you're talking to one of the players of one of the teams in the world that has won the most in recent years? Maybe have a think about that and be sure that we know how to deal with it."
The questions will keep coming because City aren't showing on the pitch that they can deal with it, but they have won as much as they have by being able to put bad results behind them. It will take some time for the confidence to return, but both players and the manager saw green shoots in the Anfield defeat and they will be clung to as Guardiola devises a plan to play through Forest on Wednesday.
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