Manchester City Players Express Continued Belief In Pep Guardiola Despite Recent Struggles

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Erling Haaland has expressed that Manchester City players maintain their trust in Pep Guardiola despite a recent downturn in performance. In their latest match, City suffered a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa, with Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers scoring for Villa and Phil Foden netting a late consolation goal for City. This loss marked City's ninth defeat in their last 12 matches across all competitions.

Under Guardiola's leadership, City have now gone five consecutive Premier League away games without a win, drawing one and losing four. This is the first time this has happened since December 2015 when Manuel Pellegrini was in charge. Haaland, who has been struggling to score recently, failed to find the net for the third game in a row at Villa Park. He managed only one off-target shot and had just one touch in the opposition box during the match.

Reflecting on the team's faith in Guardiola, Haaland told TNT Sports: "He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that. He will find the solutions. He has been doing that every single year. We still believe in him; we have to work harder than ever right now." Despite the challenges, Haaland remains optimistic about overcoming them.

Pep Guardiola acknowledged City's recent struggles but found positives in their latest performance against Aston Villa. Speaking to TNT Sports, he said: "We played a really good first half, second half we dropped. We have good moments, we had chances, more chances than in the United game, but in the second half we dropped, and our pressing was not good enough." Guardiola also mentioned his responsibility to adapt his tactics to improve results.

City's recent run of nine defeats in 12 matches is unprecedented among other top Premier League clubs this century. Only Chelsea have experienced a similar streak of losses within such a short span. Previously, City's nine defeats were spread over 112 games across different seasons.

Haaland admitted his own performance hasn't met expectations lately. "Of course we are disappointed," he said. "It's not good enough from me... I haven't been scoring my chances." He emphasised the importance of maintaining confidence despite current difficulties.

Guardiola remains hopeful that City will regain their form soon. "Step by step, we have nice personalities in the team and sooner or later we are going to find [confidence]," he stated. The manager is determined to support his players and make necessary changes to turn things around.