Man City ‘alarm bells ringing’ as psychiatrist enlisted to assess if Guardiola has ‘lost his mind’
The Manchester City “alarm bells are ringing” after Feyenoord’s comeback draw followed five consecutive defeats and a psychiatrist has been enlisted to assess whether Pep Guardiola “has lost his mind”.
Feyenoord came back from 3-0 down to claim a dramatic Champions League draw at the Etihad on Tuesday on the back of the Citizens being thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham on Sunday.
City have been without key players for much of the season, with Guardiola using that as a caveat for their poor performances and results, and former Man Utd chief scout Mick Brown claims injuries have sounded “alarm bells” among the players, who are now starting to “panic” in games.
Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Ruben Dias have missed a combined 32 games through injury this season.
“There are lots of marginal issues that end up building into a bigger problem,” Brown told Football Insider.
“That, in my judgement, is the biggest issue at Man City at the moment.
“You’ve had De Bruyne out injured, you’ve had Stones out, you’ve had Dias out, and you’ve got Rodri out. Those are four world-class players.
“If you think any team is good enough to lose four of their best players and be as good as they were before that, then I don’t know what to say.
“But what happens, more than just missing those players, in the impact on the team’s confidence.
“When balls used to go past players, they knew they had their teammates behind them to deal with it.
“All of a sudden, these aren’t being dealt with quite so effectively. Then everybody starts to panic.
“From there, it can be a bit of a downward spiral until you manage to turn things around.
“It can happen that quickly, confidence gets sucked out of a team and then alarm bells start ringing because that affects everything they do.
“The same is the case for every team in the world, and Man City are experiencing it now.”
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Guardiola sparked concern when City’s draw with Feyenoord he was pictured clawing at his head and face before appearing on camera with scratches and a bloody cut on his nose.
The Spaniard brushed off his appearance in interviews, quipping about “self-harm” caused by a long nail.
And Mundo Deportivo (via Sporting Witness) decided to enlist the help of Enric Armengou, professor of psychiatry at the Abat CEU University in Barcelona, to ease concerns.
“What happened with Guardiola speaks of the level of anxiety he has, but it is a specific event in moments of maximum tension,” he said.
“His behaviour was that of a man who is at his limit and regulated himself by hurting himself. Others might throw their notebook against the bench or kick a bottle.
“We should not give the matter greater significance because it was a moment of anger, which has no signs, due to the known antecedents, that it is a trend, so it should not be a problem.
“You cannot blame him for lack of sensitivity with problems of this type, he simply expressed himself with irony.
“I don’t think we can talk about a problem of that kind (loss of self-control). It would be excessive, otherwise we would see him with that behaviour in other areas. He is a man who lives the matches with intensity, but we have no evidence that he has ever lost his mind.”
