Manchester City's difficult run of form continued as they were beaten 2-0 in Turin by Juventus in their sixth Champions League game on Wednesday night.
The Cityzens have only won one of their last ten matches in all competitions and have lost two of their last three matches in Europe, with a 3-3 draw after being 3-0 up against Feyenoord sandwiched in between.
vlahovic-juventus-man-city
Goals from Serbia international Dusan Vlahovic and former Leeds United loanee Weston McKennie in the second half secured all three points for Thiago Motta's side on the night.
One player who underperformed for the Cityzens on the night was central midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who struggled to make a big impact in the middle of the park.
Ilkay Gundogan's performance in numbers
The German midfielder was selected ahead of the likes of Phil Foden, James McAtee, Matheus Nunes, and Mateo Kovacic from the start by Pep Guardiola.
Gundogan was in the team to provide progression and incision from a midfield position but failed to break down the Juventus defence with his passes or runs into the box.
Ilkay Gundogan Vs Juventus
Minutes 90
Touches 113
Pass accuracy 95%
Key passes 0
Big chances created 0
Duels won 3/3
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, the summer signing from Barcelona did complete 95% of his attempted passes but failed to create a single chance for his teammates, which shows that he lacked the quality in possession to be decisive for the team.
Gundogan-Man-City
Kyle Walker, meanwhile, was even worse than Gundogan and showed why his time at City should be up and Guardiola must cash in on him in January, or next summer.
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Why Kyle Walker must be sold
The experienced full-back put in a disappointing display for the Cityzens and was awarded a player rating of 4/10 by The Express, who bemoaned his involvement in the first goal and his lack of quality deliveries into the box.
Kyle-Walker-Man-City
Walker failed with four of his five long passes and did not find a target with both of his attempted crosses, which shows that his final ball was incredibly wasteful.
The England international was also far too slow to close down Kenan Yildiz from the initial deflection out towards the left flank, and was then too slow to attempt to stop the winger from putting in a cross, which was converted by Vlahovic.
He then failed to follow the defence into the box to deal with the crossing situation for the second goal, as Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol were sucked in and Walker did not tuck in to cover the middle of the box, which meant that McKennie snuck in between Gvardiola and Walker.
His form in the Premier League has also left plenty to be desired, as the English flop has produced zero goals and zero assists in 12 appearances, whilst he has only won 2.8 duels per match out of possession.
At the age of 34, now could be the perfect time for City to finally move on from their long-serving defender, whose powers appear to be waning after another poor performance in the defeat to Juventus.
Cole-Palmer-Man-City Related
[Man City could sign their answer to Cole Palmer in "unplayable" £87m star](https://www.footballfancast.com/man-city-could-find-their-cole-palmer-in-florian-wirtz/ "Man City could sign their answer to Cole Palmer in "unplayable" £87m star")
Manchester City have been linked with an interest in the £87m attacking midfielder.
Guardiola has a big decision to make in January, or if he waits until the summer, and an exit for Walker could be best for all involved.