‘Declining’ Man City ‘biggest worry’ revealed by Neville as ‘struggling’ player slammed in Spurs loss

Gary Neville has expressed concerns over Manchester City’s form after they were “outplayed in every department” by Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham.

The Premier League champions were dismantled by Spurs on Saturday evening, losing 4-0 at home.

It was a shocking performance and result: Man City’s fifth straight loss in all competitions.

There are now huge question marks over their ability to win their fifth league title in a row, and their seventh in eight seasons.

There was also doubt over Pep Guardiola’s future at the Etihad over the last few months but the Spaniard penned a contract extension during the international break.

That lifted the mood ahead of the visit of Spurs but City simply didn’t show up and deservedly lost.

The manner of the defeat understandably shook Manchester United legend Neville, who says City were “outplayed in every department” by Spurs.

MORE ON MAN CITY FROM F365

👉 16 Conclusions on Man City 0-4 Spurs: atrocious Walker and Gundogan, brilliant Kulusevski and Maddison

👉 ‘In eight years, we have never lived this situation’ – Guardiola ‘optimistic’ amid dismal Man City run

👉 Winning Premier League would be Guardiola’s ‘greatest’ title amid Man City ‘decline’ – Neville

He told Sky Sports: “We’ve seen City lose the odd game here, but we’ve very rarely seen them outplayed in every department, but that’s what we’re watching.

“They look well short. As short as I’ve seen them since Pep’s first season. I’ve not seen them as bad as this, how they’ve been in the last few weeks.”

Five defeats in a row for City has shocked everyone and Neville is surprised the international break was not perfectly timed after losing to Bournemouth, Brighton, Sporting and Spurs before.

“He (Guardiola) will have wanted that international break to come, thinking it would be a reset moment,” Neville added.

“But now here, it further entrenches the opinion this is a City side currently in decline.

“It seems madness, when you think about what they’ve achieved. They’re easy to play against and teams are encouraged when playing them. The vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see.”

Neville did criticise one individual for their role in Spurs’ fourth goal. Kyle Walker’s lazy defending against Timo Werner allowed the German to assist a Brennan Johnson tap-in.

“Goodness gracious me,” Neville said. “You don’t see that very often, but we’ve seen it a few times in the last couple of weeks.

“Vinicius Junior, [Kylian] Mbappe, he’s handled them all, Walker, but he’s struggling at this moment in time.”

Neville also insisted that City’s woes are not purely down to the absence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who is out for the season with an ACL injury.

“This is more than just Rodri, far more,” he said after the full-time whistle.

Neville added: “You’ve got [Mateo] Kovacic, Ruben Dias who’s a leader of men in the back four. Kevin De Bruyne’s in and out of the team. Losing [Julian] Alvarez is a massive blow, when you can bring him on.

“They’re off it, they’re short. Things aren’t quite clicking; [Ilkay] Gundogan couldn’t get near anybody, the focus and balance wasn’t right with Rico Lewis, Bernardo Silva and they didn’t have enough energy to get around them.

“Once Tottenham scored, the confidence came. James Maddison started to get on the ball. You could see his tail was up, that’s the sort of player he is.

“The fact you can’t score a goal against the two centre-backs of Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin, that’s the biggest worry – they didn’t have that clinical edge.”

👉 TRY NEXT: The Famous F365 Friday Quiz: Man City v Spurs – The CRISIS derby