Pep Guardiola Faces First-Ever Four-Game Losing Streak as Manchester City Slump Continues

 Pep Guardiola Faces First-Ever Four-Game Losing Streak as Manchester City Slump Continues

Pep Guardiola is experiencing the worst run of his managerial career after Manchester City suffered a fourth consecutive defeat on Saturday. Brighton came from behind to win 2-1 in the Premier League, leaving second-placed City five points adrift of leaders Liverpool.

This marks City’s first four-game losing streak since 2006, two years before the club's Abu Dhabi takeover and a decade before Guardiola transformed their fortunes. For Guardiola, it’s an unprecedented challenge in his distinguished career, which began in 2007. Prior to this, his closest call was in the 2014-15 season at Bayern Munich, where he oversaw three consecutive defeats and a penalty shootout loss in the German Cup.

With the pressure mounting, Guardiola was asked whether this could signal the end of City’s dominant era after winning an unprecedented four consecutive Premier League titles. "It's what the people want, right?" he responded. "That’s normal — we’ve won a lot. I would just like to have the full squad available."

Unfortunately for Guardiola, key players are sidelined, including star midfielder Rodri, who is out for the season with an ACL injury. The manager is also without his top four centre-backs — Rúben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, and Nathan Aké — and playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, who is still struggling with fitness after returning from injury.

Guardiola acknowledged the team's struggles but was clear that he didn’t believe they were playing as poorly as the results suggested. "When we play badly, I’m the first to say, 'Oh, oh, I don’t like it,' but I don’t have that feeling," he said.

City were dominant in the first half, taking the lead through Erling Haaland's 12th goal of the season. However, much like their 4-1 defeat to Sporting in the Champions League earlier in the week, they couldn’t maintain their performance after the break. Brighton fought back,then setting up Matt O'Riley for the winning goal just five minutes later on his Premier League challenge.

City’s current losing streak began with a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last week, followed by their first league loss in 11 months — a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth.

Guardiola pointed to the growing injury crisis as a key factor in their slump. "We cannot do it every three days, three days, four days, with the [injury] situation we have," he said, expressing a sense of frustration. "I would love to have the players back."

Captain Kyle Walker also addressed the team’s struggles, stressing that it was up to the players to fight their way out of the current slump. "It's down to us as a group of players to make sure that we're fighting for this great club," Walker told Sky Sports. "It’s tough to take, but I can assure you that everyone is determined to turn it around as quickly as possible."