Bernardo Silva discusses Manchester City’s poor run of form

Pep Guardiola maintains he is prepared for the task and willing to battle as he attempts to turn around his team's fortunes, despite Bernardo Silva revealing Manchester City is "in a dark place" following their 4-1 defeat at the expense of Sporting during the UEFA Champions League. Before even getting to Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim won over Manchester United supporters by leading Sporting to a thrilling 4-1 victory over Manchester City in Lisbon.

Phil Foden gave City the lead early on, but Sporting responded with quick-fire goals that included Maximiliano Araujo's goal and a hat-trick from Viktor Gyokeres. With the exception of a subsequent run in 2021 which featured the Community Shield, it was the first time Manchester City, for whom Erling Haaland had missed a penalty, had lost three straight games since 2018.

Following City's most crushing loss since 2020, Bernardo Silva said, "It's disappointing because we're a bit in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way. Even when we are playing well we don't score our chances and we concede too easily. We need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.

The former Monaco player added that, "It's difficult to find reasons for what is happening to us. It just looks like this team is going the wrong way now. Our injured players need to come back because we need them and it's just not good enough tonight."

“I won't give up, that's for sure” : Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola, the manager, was more upbeat and claimed to be enjoying the challenge of recovering. The Manchester City manager, who leads his team on Saturday to Brighton, stated, "We played really bad against Bournemouth but really good here. The only regret is conceding the third and fourth - the penalties were not necessary.”

The former Bayern Munich manager added that, "We knew it would be a tough season at the start and this is what it is. I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players. Life is like this. We continue. What should we do? We go back to Manchester and prepare for the game at Brighton. I won't give up, that's for sure."