Ilkay Gündogan has admitted he’s made “mistakes” this season but believes Manchester City have been a victim of their own success rather than falling off.
[Sport.de](https://www.sport.de/news/ne7589300/guendogan-erklaert-krisen-saison-von-manchester-city-manchmal-kann-man-nichts-anderes-machen-/) have an interview with the midfielder today in which he pinpoints where he thinks Manchester City have gone wrong this season.
It’s proven to be a disastrous year for Pep Guardiola and his side as they’ve struggled to overcome the early loss of midfielder Rodri.
His absence has been sorely felt and have led to a major fall off from the reigning champions, who have been far off of the previous levels they’ve set.
They currently sit fifth in the Premier League table, two points outside of the top four and 23 points behind leaders Liverpool. They were also dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in the first knockout round stage.
A complete overhaul of the squad appears to be on the way, with the club already starting that process in January with a major spend on younger players for the future.
Gündogan, though, believes the major problem this season has been the standards that Manchester City have previously set being unattainable.
“I don’t think we’re too tired. I don’t think we’re too old,” he said.
’I just think that what this club has achieved in the last seven years is not normal. If you look at the last seven years: six Premier League titles, winning the Champions League, countless trophies with the League Cup and the FA Cup, Super Cups, Club World Cup.
“What the club has achieved in the last seven years is now considered normal.’
“We discuss that ourselves,” added the midfielder, “Sometimes you can’t do anything other than accept that. That’s what we do, knowing that we can do better because we’ve made enough mistakes ourselves.
“We can assess them well. Accordingly, the minimum goal now is to qualify for the Champions League.”