Guardiola admits Man City are struggling to impose style

AFP | London
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Pep Guardiola admitted yesterday that his Manchester City team are not as comfortable in possession as they used to be and that they lack the physicality to compete with their Premier League rivals.

City have dominated English football for most of the past decade with a possession-based style that chokes opponents, but they have slipped from their stellar standards this season.

The English league champions in six of the past seven years are realistically out of the title race, though they are in fifth spot, just two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

City also face an uphill battle to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League after conceding two late goals against Real Madrid in a 3-2 defeat in the knockout phase play-offs on Tuesday.

Guardiola told reporters ahead of Saturday’s tough match against Newcastle that City’s problems were multi-faceted.

“It’s everything, it’s not one,” he said. “(If) it’s one subject, it will be easy to solve it.

“We have been so comfortable with the ball and now we are not as comfortable when we have the ball and after, when it doesn’t happen, we have to make use of our physicality and our physicality is not like other teams.”

He added: “We know the league makes a step forward with all the teams and we make some step backwards compared with previous seasons.”

Guardiola said Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji would be out for up to 10 weeks after suffering a muscle injury against Real.