'The main reason is..' - Pep Guardiola reveals the reason behind Manchester City downfall

Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, has accepted responsibility for his team's recent struggles. With six Premier League titles in the previous seven years, City came into the season defending their fourth straight title. They presently trail table leaders Liverpool by 14 points, though, and a victory last weekend would guarantee that they start the new year in sixth position.

They defeated Leicester City 2-0, their second win in 14 games in all competitions, which was Pep Guardiola’s 500^th game as Manchester City coach. This is one of the worst periods of Guardiola's management career, which has included successful spells at Bayern Munich and Barcelona. In their quest for their first consecutive win since October, they will welcome West Ham at the Etihad Stadium.

If Pep Guardiola was questioned if he was attempting to protect his players from being held accountable for their performance, he insisted that he was at fault. The 53-year-old believed that players' performance tends to decline as the season goes on, and this was true even during the previous season.

During his ninth season at the club, the Spaniard felt that he had "missed some things" and that his team needed to improve. Guardiola added that when a team loses a lot of games, a manager needs to think about what the team needs and how to boost confidence within the circle.

Manchester City struggling in recent times due to injury

Speaking ahead of his team's Premier League match against West Ham, Pep Guardiola claimed that he is to blame for Manchester City's faltering season. “The first call is for myself first. I’m unbelievably honest with myself. I know the reason we arrive and the main reason; it’s me. It’s not the players.” I’m unbelievably honest with myself, and I know the reason why. “The main, main reason is me..." he said.

Although Manchester City has had slow starts in the past and has even fallen six points or more behind the top club in their four championship seasons, this has been their worst run of the year. According to Guardiola, their persistently subpar play ought to have allowed him to identify the true cause of the subpar play.

Guardiola has frequently held himself responsible for the dismal turn of events, in part because of this. Numerous injuries have been sustained by City, which is also seen to be contributing to their subpar play this season. Rodri missed a significant portion of the season, thus Guardiola's midfield problems only became worse.