Kyle Walker's 'stupid' comment as Pep Guardiola and Man City star Ilkay Gundogan disagree
Manchester City suffered another defeat away at Juventus with Ilkay Gundogan's subsequent suggestion that confidence is their issue not lining up with Pep Guardiola's views - or Kyle Walker's
Kyle Walker's previous comments suggest he would join Pep Guardiola in contradicting Ilkay Gundogan's view on Manchester City's confidence levels.
Gundogan candidly expressed concerns over the squads morale after City fell to a 2-0 defeat against Juventus in the Champions League. However, Guardiola publicly refuted this claim in his own post-match interview, emphasising that low confidence isn't their issue.
The loss to the Serie A side contributes to a concerning tally of seven defeats in the club's last 10 games across all competitions. Similarly to Guardiola, Walker described the suggestion that confidence levels were the reason for City's poor form as "stupid" after Tottenham Hotspur beat the Citizens 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium in November.
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After the home humiliation dealt by Tottenham in November, Walker said: "We're going through a bad spell but we will come out the end of it. We've got the characters and more than enough ability in there to do so.
"We won't give up. We've all achieved a lot for this club. It's a new season and we need to go and fight for the Premier League again.
"We just need to get one win and hopefully we get our mojo back. Do I think we've lost confidence? No, I think it's stupid for us to say that. We just need to start winning again."
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Since the loss to Tottenham, City have lost two, drawn two and won one of their last five matches. With little sign that the poor run is coming to an end, Gundogan offered his honest thoughts on the state of the team. The German said: "Confidence is a big part of it. That's a mental issue as well.
"You can see that we are sometimes one action we miss the ball or lose a duel and you see that we drop immediately and lose the rhythm. They don't even need to do much but it has such a big effect on us right now."
City slipped down to 22nd in the Champions League pecking order and are teetering on the brink of a premature exit. Their next European clash with Paris Saint-Germain on January 22 could prove decisive, with defeat in the French capital seeing PSG overtake them.
Meanwhile, Guardiola is striving to remain composed during what might be described as his most challenging phase as a manager. Despite the string of unsatisfactory outcomes, he openly disagreed with Gundogan's perspective.
The ex-Bayern Munich manager said: "I am not agreeing with Ilkay. Of course it is tough, except one or two games in this period that were not good, the rest we were played, good. I give credit to Juventus for the way they played and defended in the transitions.
"But we were incredibly aggressive in our high pressing, the long balls. The back four was really good. It is a cross and [Dusan] Vlahovic is strong in this position. But the way we played I'm really pleased."