Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says his players are hurting over their unprecedented five-match losing streak but he trusts them to turn the situation around.
The 4-0 home loss to Tottenham was a shattering blow just days after Guardiola signed a new two-year contract at the club.
It was City’s heaviest home defeat since 2003 and the first time they have lost five games in a row since 2006, before Sheikh Mansour began his trophy-ladened time as owner.
Guardiola has never previously lost five successive games in his entire managerial career.
It also leaves City eight points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, following the Reds’ 3-2 win at Southampton on Sunday.
“I trust these players more than ever,” said Guardiola.
“I’ve never seen a player in my life who wants to perform badly or make a bad performance to the fans or for the club. Nobody wants it.
“When they are in front of 60,000 people they want to perform well. But for many reasons, it hurts.”
Guardiola has vowed to find a solution to City’s problems but with a crucial trip to Liverpool next weekend following Tuesday’s Champions League encounter with Dutch side Feyenoord, it is not clear how he will achieve it.
The twin absences of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri and Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic mean City’s injury-hit defence has been exposed to too many attacks.
On Saturday, Tottenham arrived with a gameplan to get the ball wide to Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski as quickly as possible in an effort to isolate City’s full-backs and put the central positions under strain.
Kulusevski said he was looking forward to the challenge more than any other game this season and the outcome represented “the best result ever in my career”.
For City, the experience was more depressing.
“At the moment we are not solid enough, that is the truth,” added Guardiola.
“I will not say a word that my time is not good but I have been there as a football player. They are not, ‘hey it doesn’t matter’. You want to do well but you have doubts.”
Consolation for Guardiola comes from the belief his side are playing well for extended periods within games.
Against Tottenham, he felt the outcome would have been vastly different had Erling Haaland taken one of the two early chances that came his way.
He will also hope John Stones, who was limited to 45 minutes at the weekend, will be in better shape for the Liverpool trip and both Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake are fitter to allow some options in central defence, which in turn will give Kyle Walker and Josko Gvardiol more confidence after personally disappointing displays against Spurs.
It is fair to assume someone as relentless and driven as Guardiola will not be paying lip service to his overall assessment of the situation.
“When we started to lose, I said to people, ‘we have to find a way’,” he said. “That is my duty.
“Sometimes you don’t have it for many reasons, so which players at our disposal are better than the other ones? Lets’ go to try and do it with them.”