TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 11: Kyle Walker, of Manchester City, applauds to fans at the end of the UEFA Champions League match between Juventus and Manchester City at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy on December 11, 2024. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 11: Kyle Walker, of Manchester City, applauds to fans at the end of the UEFA Champions League match between Juventus and Manchester City at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy on December 11, 2024. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)
There were plenty of brutal headlines in the Italian news stands on Thursday mornings, yet the most cutting came back in England after another Manchester City collapse.
'Juve teach Pep a lesson,' read one Italian sports paper. 'Juve sinks Pep', another. 'Bianconeri take advantage of City's serious crisis', 'Juventus control the tempo, then strike'. '[Dusan] Vlahovic and [Weston] McKennie demolish City.'
Pep Guardiola showed off his fluent Italian this week so he won't be able to ignore the negative jibes aimed in his direction in Turin. Back home, too, City's defeat was plastered on the back pages as a 'Weston Super Mare'. More damning, one headline was the ruthless: 'Old Lady 2 Old Men 0.'
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This is the underlying problem that City have put off because they have won so much. This is no longer about the injury crisis and Guardiola is no longer interested in using that as an excuse. At the Allianz Stadium, they had Ederson, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne in the starting line up. Hardly inexperienced, and a team packed full of leaders.
The five members of the six-strong captaincy group on the pitch on Wednesday all had different methods of reacting to the latest setback, each similar but slightly different to the manager. Guardiola insists the turn will come through going back to basics. Ilkay Gundogan says it's a confidence issue, but his manager disagrees.
Gundogan went on to challenge his teammates to look at themselves. “I feel we know exactly what is going wrong," he said. "We know the reasons. It’s about trying to find the switch to turn things around. We have to do the simple things.
"Every single player has to push themselves individually to be better. Individually and collectively - everyone now has to question themselves and try to figure out what to change and what to do to contribute to the team in the best possible way."
Again, that is different to Guardiola, who said he is not questioning himself in his bid to get City winning again and sought to relieve pressure on his players. De Bruyne cut a frustrated figure on the Allianz Stadium pitch and has previously said there hasn't needed to be any major crisis talks in the dressing room.
Dias, always on hand to say the right thing, suggested a few small crisis chats had taken place, and then offered a similar view to Gundogan about looking introspectively while disagreeing with Guardiola about the mindset issue.
"Our biggest problem will always be ourselves not being at the best level. We have to be better, it’s the mindset for us," Dias asserted. "We all know what we can do but it’s about trying to get back to that level."
Bernardo Silva spoke after the draw at Crystal Palace at the weekend and criticised the confidence in the team, but one person fans are desperate to hear from is the underperforming club captain.
Before the game in Juventus, Walker completed his captaincy duties as his teammates waited in a huddle, but sprinted across to the other side of the pitch to do his water-blowing ritual. By the time he had joined the huddle, Gundogan had taken it upon himself to start the team-talk before the captain took over.
Is that a major issue? Maybe not - City rotate who has the final word and every player has their pre-match superstitions. However, everything Walker does is scrutinised this season because he is badly out of form, partly because he rushed himself back from injury.
City have won just twice this term when he has started and there is growing disquiet in the fanbase about his leadership, which again, could be down to his form more than anything.
He speaks on his podcast, and offered a lengthy Instagram apology for City's recent form. Yet when reporters asked him for a chat at the Allianz Stadium post-match, the captain replied: "I'd love to, but I can't."
Why not? Walker spoke up on behalf of his teammates after the Brighton and Tottenham defeats, but has been quiet in the four winless games since and Wednesday felt like a perfect opportunity to set the narrative before a Manchester derby.
City have six captains, yet they are all singing from different hymn sheets, each a little different to the manager. It feels like a disunited camp going into United.