Guardiola insists aging squad is not the reason for Manchester City’s poor run | Manchester City

Pep Guardiola has denied that a key factor in Manchester City’s run of five consecutive defeats is that nine of his squad are aged 30 or over, with the manager pointing out how the same players were Premier League champions last season.

The 4-0 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday was their second successive defeat to Ange Postecoglou’s side, with the others coming against Brighton, Sporting and Bournemouth. This is City’s worst run under Guardiola and the worst in his 17-year coaching career.

Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Ederson, Stefan Ortega, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan, Kyle Walker and Scott Carson are all 30 or over. Apart from Gündogan, all were at City when they won the title for a record fourth consecutive time in May.

“It depends on the performance,” Guardiola said when asked before City host Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday if advancing years were the main reason for his side’s alarming drop in form. “There are players aged 30 and over 30 who are performing incredibly well. There are players aged 23 who are not performing well. I don’t see the age. All teams have players of certain ages.

“The analysis from my point of view shows right now that we’re not getting results, it’s not because we have players (over 30) because a few weeks ago they were the same age and we won the Premier League, reached the FA Cup final and was eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

“I will defend what we have done because I know these guys and I never blame one player. There are many factors that make a difference. If I could say the reason, I would take (solve) it immediately, but it’s not as simple as that.”

Guardiola refuses to be confused. “I learn from these situations, keep calm. Sometimes I yell, but the next morning with a cup of coffee I say, ‘Why am I yelling? Stay calm.'”

De Bruyne came on after 74 minutes against Spurs as the 33-year-old playmaker continued his comeback from a stomach problem. He is out of contract next summer and said Guardiola’s signing of a two-year deal last week could make the difference in deciding his long-term future.

“It could be. It could help. Because I know what the future brings (under Guardiola),” said De Bruyne. “And I don’t need to talk to Pep about what happens in the future. If it would be a new coach, of course you have to have a conversation with these people because you don’t know what they want with you.

“Maybe I would have a conversation if I want to talk about my future with Pep because I don’t know what he thinks. And maybe he will change his mind and say: ‘Kevin, thanks. Time to go.’ But there’s more understanding of what’s going on. I know how he works, how he works with the team, so it’s nothing new to me.”

“Kevin will be honest,” the manager said of his midfielder’s future. “He wants to finish here at his best. I don’t think he wants to be here when he thinks he doesn’t feel like he can be the Kevin who can produce and help the team like he has done in it last decade.”

De Bruyne stated that his injury layoff from mid-September to early November was the toughest of his career. “This has been the most frustrating because last year when I had the hamstring I knew I would be out for five, six months,” said the Belgian.

“It’s fine. But now it was, I don’t know. When it happened after Inter, I basically tested myself to be able to play at the weekend and I wasn’t able to. So I didn’t know how long time it would take me to get better, and in the end it has taken me a very long time.”