Ilkay Gundogan insists Manchester City know the way out of their ongoing slump following Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Juventus.
Second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie left City in danger of elimination before the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and on a dismal run of form that reads one win in 10 matches heading into Sunday’s derby showdown with Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium.
Experienced midfielder Gundogan conceded an injury-hit City feel in danger on every opposition attack at the moment and he echoed Pep Guardiola’s pre-match thoughts by urging his team-mates to take responsibility.
In terms of winning duels and making the right decisions in possession, the former Germany playmaker feels City are coming up short on those two fundamental pillars of Guardiola football.
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“It’s very disappointing. I feel like we had chances to score a few goals but at the moment it feels like every attack we concede is so dangerous,” he told TNT Sport.
“I have a feeling sometimes we are a bit careless in the duels, instead of playing simple we overcomplicate things and we miss the right timing to pass the ball, to release the ball. We just lose balls and [the opposition] score on the transition every time.
“We give them counter-attacks and we have to chase 50, 60 metres back every time and that’s not what we’re built for. We’re built for possession. Be strong and even if you cannot do anything in the duel, don’t lose it. At the moment it’;s just not working out for us.”
Gundogan returned to City after a season in Barcelona and the 34-year-old has found himself overworked at the base of the midfield. Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is likely out for the whole campaign after ACL surgery, while Mateo Kovacic has not taken to the field for his club since being injured for Croatia during the November international break.
Three senior centre-backs are also on the sidelines, although Gundogan feels psychological, as well as physical, scars are playing a part in City’s malaise.
“It’s a mental issue as well,” he said. “You can see that in one action we miss the ball and lose a duel you see that we drop immediately, lose the rhythm and they are able to break our rhythm with the smallest of things. They don’t even need to do much. It has such a big effect on us right now.
Even more you have to do the simple things as good as possible – quick, clean, fluently. This is how you get the confidence back. It feels like in crucial moments at the moment we are always doing the wrong things.”
Gundogan added: “I feel like we know exactly what’s going wrong, we know the reasons and if you look at the most part of the games we don’t play bad. Even to ourselves, it’s obvious what’s going wrong, it’s about finding the switch to turn it around.
“I don’t feel like we’re that far off. It may sound a little bit stupid but that’s how I feel. Every single player has to question himself, how he can do more to sacrifice more to the team so we can get collectively back on our way.”
