Pep Guardiola admits his Manchester City side couldn’t handle Tottenham duo James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.
The Premier League champions fell to a fifth consecutive defeat after they were thrashed 4-0 by Spurs, extending an already unprecedented run of poor form for Guardiola.
The City boss had never previously lost four games in a row and the heavy defeat at home sent his side further into crisis.
It is the first time the club have fallen to five consecutive losses since 2006, while they also lost their 52-game unbeaten streak at the Etihad Stadium.
Spurs ran rampant over a City side who faded after a promising opening ten minutes or so, in which Erling Haaland missed some presentable chances.
Maddison, who was celebrating his 28th birthday, bagged a brace while Kulusevski pulled the strings from a wide position having been reverted there by manager Ange Postecoglou following what had been a productive spell in the middle of the park.After the game, Guardiola admitted the pair had punished his side.
“We are a little bit fragile now,” he said.
“We started really well and we couldn’t score. And the first time they arrive [in our box] they score.
“Of course, the quality of Kulusevski and Maddison was good.”Manchester City were beaten 4-0 by Tottenham as their two-year unbeaten run at the Etihad was broken in brutal fashion.
Pep Guardiola’s side started the game brightly with Erling Haaland twice going close, but poor defending allowed Dejan Kulusevski to tee up James Maddison and the Blues never recovered. Maddison added a second before half-time and Pedro Porro made things even worse for the home team.
Kevin De Bruyne came off the bench but was unable to inspire a comeback as City never looked like getting back into the match with Brennan Johnson rubbing salt into the wound with a late fourth . Their next league game is away to Liverpool, after a home fixture in the Champions League against Feyenoord; here is how the players rated.Ederson: Made a number of good saves that stopped the scoreline becoming a complete embarrassment for City. The only one in Blue who played well. 7
Walker: Most of the trouble came on City’s other side and he deal with Son well for large parts, although guilty of sitting off for the third. 5
Stones: A difficult 45 minutes on his first league start since Wolves, and he didn’t reappear after the break. Problematic for City. 4
Akanji: Couldn’t stop the Spurs onslaught on that side with Gvardiol but improved in the second half. 4
Gvardiol: A poor error for the first goal, compounded by an even poorer error for the second goal. Some good attacking positions made redundant by having given the game away. 3
Gundogan: A horror show, bypassed constantly in the game and unable to get back and help. A player who used to make everything look easy is struggling badly. 3
Lewis: A lot of shouting and aggression from a player up for a scrap, but very little contribution to creating chances from midfield. 4
Silva: Plenty of running and fight, and yet still powerless to prevent City’s midfield being overrun. 5
Foden: More intensity than the rest of his teammates, although his radar in front of goal still hasn’t returned from last season. 5
Savinho: Started brilliantly and quickly faded fast. Bottled out of what would have been a big goalscoring opportunity to sum up his lack of final product. 4
Haaland: None of his misses were terrible but you would have expected him to score at least one of those early chances that could have changed the game. 4