Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about the performance of his team and his plans for Marc Guehi
Pep Guardiola
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Pep Guardiola does not expect Marc Guehi to solve all of Manchester City's problems when he makes his debut against Wolves this weekend - but the manager knows what will. The City boss said in midweek that 'everything is going wrong' after successive defeats but believes his team can get back on track.
City entered 2026 in a position of strength but three consecutive Premier League draws in January were followed by a dismal derby defeat at United. Arguably more damaging, they were beaten 3-1 by Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League in a result that pushes them out of the top eight spots with one game to go in the first phase of the competition and could result in two extra games next month.
Guehi will help, having completed his £20million move from Crystal Palace this week and backed to come straight into a defence that has been missing Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, John Stones and Matheus Nunes. However, Guardiola saw enough from his team in midweek to pledge that they are not far off returning to the results they need.
"In Bodo we missed in the boxes the chances we had again and the long balls and duels we were not aggressive enough and lost the second balls because we do not have specific players in that position but in general I had the feeling that the team was there," he said.
"For 15-20 minutes except one action we were really good, after two minutes we conceded two goals. The chance we had after 40 minutes and Max Alleyne's header from five yards in the opening minutes, one minute after the goal we had the sending off from Rodri. In those little situations you have to be lucky and we were not.
"Against United without Gigio [Donnarumma] the goals difference would have been higher but in terms of Bodo I don't have that feeling. But it's so demanding. For Max it will be an incredible lesson for his learning and development and we have to move forward.
"The fragility - I know how it will be solved. It's not just one player but he (Guehi) is going to help us because the experience of Marc is exceptional, he's a player for the national team of England, he was captain of a team that won the FA Cup and made an incredible season under Oliver Glasner. This season they have struggled for details and injuries. But fragility is not just about one player. I know what the solution is to not have the fragility. The players know it."