Ilkay Gundogan
Ilkay Gundogan
Ilkay Gundogan admitted that Manchester City are crumbling under little pressure as they make the wrong call at every crucial moment.
The Blues enjoyed most of the possession in the first half in their Champions League game away at Juventus and looked stable, only to fold after the break to raise the possibility that they could exit a competition they won 18 months ago before the knockout stage. It continued the terrible form under Pep Guardiola, with seven defeats in their last ten matches that have seen just one victory.
Guardiola defended the performance and Gundogan doesn't think there is that much wrong with the side, but believes they are falling short in the defining moments of the match. When that happens, their confidence struggles mean they are less able to come back.
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"We had chances to score a few goals but at the moment it feels like every attack we concede is so dangerous," he told TNT Sports. "Sometimes we are a bit careless in the duels and instead of playing simple we overcomplicate things.
"We miss the right timing to release the ball and lose balls in transition every time and give them counter-attacks and have to chase every time 50 or 60 metres backwards. That's not what we're built for, we're built for possession to keep the ball, be strong and even if you cannot do anything with the ball don't lose it. At the moment, it's just not working out for us.
"That's a mental issue as well. You can see that we are sometimes one action we miss the ball or lose a duel and you see that we drop immediately and lose the rhythm.
"They don't even need to do much but it has such a big effect on us right now. Even more you have to do the simple things as good as possible and create and fluidly and then it's going to work hard again.
"This is how you get confidence back even in a game. Do the small and simple things to get your confidence back. In crucial moments at the moment we are always doing the wrong things."