As the weeks have gone by Premier League leaders Liverpool have extended their advantage over confidence-drained Manchester City
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Josep Guardiola Manager of Manchester City reacts
There is a Premier League to win with Manchester City in freefall (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
(Image: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
Manchester City have a 'broken mentality' was Rio Ferdinand's assessment after latest defeat to Juventus. This comes as the reigning champions are increasingly losing hope of overcoming Liverpool in the 2024/25 Premier League title race.
Over the past several weeks, this season has taken a turn nobody truly foresaw. It started with a Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Tottenham, they passed through Anfield for a league hiding and it culminated in Turin on Wednesday night - City have won one match in their last 10.
As well as bowing out of that cup they are dicing with a Champions League league phase exit with two rounds of fixtures to go, but perhaps of most significance to Liverpool and other rivals they are close to giving up all hope of a fifth consecutive Premier League triumph. The weight of their prior achievement can be appreciated, though in the here and now for the likes of the Reds, there is a title to be won.
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Analysing Ilkay Gundogan's comments after Man City's 2-0 loss to Juventus, in which the midfielder admitted his side are crumbling under pressure, Ferdinand said: "One of the things I took from that interview, without saying it there is a bit of a broken mentality within the group.
"From being a team that are built with players who one of their strengths is if they make mistakes, with the ball or without the ball, it is quickly forgotten. That is a big thing of Pep’s, it is one of the hallmarks of his players, over the years we have seen that - make a mistake, move on, not a problem.
"They’re making mistakes now and there is a hangover for probably the next three or four phases of play. That is when big mistakes start happening and we saw they conceded the goal, they capitulated and you’re thinking there is gonna be another one at any point. That is a big problem."
On their rotten run, Pep Guardiola's team have also been defeated by Bournemouth, Brighton and Tottenham in the Premier League, with a draw against Crystal Palace last weekend adding further misery.
That result marked a failed opportunity to apply pressure to Liverpool, who had their Merseyside derby against Everton postponed. The Reds now hold a game in hand and a current eight-point advantage over their rivals.
"There seems to be a confusion with how to react and what to do. Their finger is on the pulse with what is going on because there are so many people analysing the game and so much data, so they’re gonna know everything and where the problem is.
But getting humans out on the pitch lacking confidence and aren’t used to this is the difficult part," Ferdinand added, before questioning: "That’s where we’re asking now ’Pep, can you answer this call? Can you build these players back up to make them immortal again like they were?’"