**A selection of Pep Guardiola’s first-team stars lost in a nine-versus-nine training ground exercise to a group of Manchester City’s Academy starlets, it has been revealed.**
The latest insight into the behind-the-scenes of Guardiola’s struggling squad emerges after they succumbed to a seventh consecutive match without a win, falling to a relatively straightforward 2-0 win for Liverpool on Sunday.
Victory for Arne Slot’s men also made it four consecutive matches being on the receiving end of a defeat for Manchester City, who come into their next Premier League encounter against Nottingham Forest in fifth position.
Many have raised the question as to whether Pep Guardiola’s squad has simply reached its end and whether age has caught up with them, as Manchester City officials also eye up 2025 as being the year for a significant rebuild across the roster.
And those debates will only have been heightened over the last few days, particularly as the club’s talented youngsters put the senior squad to the sword in a training ground exercise last week.
According to [The Athletic’s Daniel Taylor](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5946660/2024/12/03/manchester-city-pep-guardiola-liverpool/?source=user_shared_article), a selection of Manchester City’s first-team players lost out in a nine-versus-nine training exercise alongside a group of teenagers from the club’s Elite Development Squad (EDS) last week.
It is however [pointed out](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5946660/2024/12/03/manchester-city-pep-guardiola-liverpool/?source=user_shared_article) that some of those senior players had been involved in the 3-3 draw against Feyenoord the previous night, whilst there is the obvious factor of the club’s EDS stars being some of the most talented in their age group.
Manchester City will have thought that their winless streak across competitions would be coming to an end against the Dutch squad in European competition last week, with a brace from Erling Haaland and a goal from Ilkay Gundogan putting them into a three-goal lead.
However, with just 15 minutes remaining in the contest, and having made three changes via substitutions, Pep Guardiola’s side would ship three goals in quick succession to drop further points in the league phase of Europe’s premier club competition.
Manchester City face three more matches as they aim to sneak into the automatic positions to qualify for the round of 16, with away trips to Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain and a home clash against Club Brugge remaining.