‘Amazed’ Neville digs out Guardiola over ‘bizarre’ Man City decision amid ‘dressing room’ drama

Gary Neville insists “something’s definitely going on in the dressing room” at Man City after Pep Guardiola left out Kevin de Bruyne against Liverpool.

The Citizens were second best for much of the match at Anfield as goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah secured the three points for the Reds.

Premier League leaders Liverpool are now 11 points ahead of defending champions Man City in the Premier League table with Guardiola’s side dropping down to fifth in the standings.

Man City have lost their last four Premier League matches and are winless in seven matches in all competitions as Guardiola struggles to deal with a number of injury issues and loss of form.

De Bruyne, who was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in the summer, has only made four Premier League starts this term, partly due to injury but also because Guardiola has chosen to start him on the bench in recent fixtures.

And that was the case again at Anfield as De Bruyne was called upon for just 12 minutes despite Man City losing for the vast majority of the match.

Discussing Man City’s struggles this season, Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast: “I thought Liverpool would win today. City have been awful. They looked beaten. The team selection of Pep Guardiola…we can say he’s a genius, he’s amazing, he’s one of the greatest minds of all time and say, I don’t think he got it right, without being disrespectful. Just an observation.

“We saw Rico Lewis play in front of Kyle Walker last weekend at Tottenham. It didn’t work. How was Nunes going to work on this left-hand side in a flat midfield four? Again, it didn’t work. He substituted them both after an hour so it’s obvious it didn’t work. There were things that were wrong for City from the very, very start of the game.

“I was amazed how they set up. But today Liverpool become huge title favourites.

“Rodri, we’ll keep on mentioning it until the cows come home, but then all of a sudden the weariness, the fatigue, you get a couple of bad results, then the confidence starts to go.

“From weariness and fatigue, losing players, injuries, confidence, belief, before you know it, everything looks like it’s gone, and that’s why I don’t think anybody at this moment is really ploughing into Pep Guardiola or Manchester City.

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“These are proven serial winners, these guys that we’re watching out on the pitch in those blue shirts today, don’t have anything to prove in respect to the fact they’ve got five and six Premier League titles some of them.

“There just comes a point where you’ve climbed mountain after mountain after mountain, and it just hits you, and that’s what’s happening, we’re just seeing a group of players who just, at this moment, can’t do any more than what they’re doing, and it looks humbling.

“They look so vulnerable, they look broken out on the pitch, the defenders are broken, the midfield players look weak, they look like they’re being overrun, outworked, the forwards don’t look like they’re ever going to score. They just don’t look as dangerous, the patterns that we’ve always seen in City have gone.

“Pep Guardiola’s built two sensational football teams whilst he’s been at the club, and he’s going to have to go and build a third. That doesn’t mean rebuild as in, change 10 players, you’re talking probably two or three, four players max in, and two or three, four players out. They only usually use about 16 to 18 players City, so you talk about changing a quarter of your squad in and out.

“The Kevin De Bruyne thing is unusual, bizarre, strange. Why is probably the best player that the Premier League has had in the last 10 years, why is he not out there? We know he’s had injuries, but why is he not out there, because he’s a leader, he’s got authority, he’s got confidence, he’s got brilliance. So something’s going on, something’s definitely going on in the dressing room, there’s something happening.”