Another game, another collapse.. It’s now eight goals that Manchester City have conceded in the last 16 minutes in the Champions League this season – nearly half of the 17 they have let in – the fourth time in six games that they have thrown away a winning position. Real did what Real do on Tuesday night, but also what Sporting, Feyenoord and PSG have done to City in Europe.. It has been the same story domestically, from a late collapse against an awful United team to letting Arsenal run riot in the second half at the Emirates. Once the tide turns against City, they have been helpless to stop being drowned.. Injuries have chipped away at confidence and Ilkay Gundogan is among several players to talk of a mentality issue when they suffer a setback, yet Guardiola insists that there is no psychological problem. Once again after Real, he denied the idea of a ‘vicious cycle’ where players get sucked into the dread of a familiar losing battle.. “I could understand, but in 2-1 nothing wrong happened,” said Guardiola. “We were closer to creating chances than them.. “After, what happened happened. It’s not about a specific player, it’s many situations to read what we have to do in those situations and we are not able to do.”. The thing is, if it isn’t a psychological issue affecting the team then it is individual errors. And whereas you can overcome a mentality, it is difficult to stop making errors if that is ingrained in your game.. Just ask Kyle Walker, who started the season as club captain and made so many errors leading to goals he is now on loan at AC Milan with a permanent transfer expected in the summer. It may not be to Italy, but his race at City looks run; the pundits last night questioning whether City should have kept him for games such as Real Madrid cannot have seen how he performed in any matches this year.. Guardiola has shown signs of his patience wearing thin in recent weeks, snapping at the players for not following the gameplan against Arsenal and then telling them they need to take accountability and responsibility for their actions after the Real defeat. As he told reporters on Tuesday night, the club cannot expect to challenge for more trophies when they keep repeating their mistakes.. The longer it goes on, and is seen as players simply making bad decisions rather than been affected by the loss of stability in the team, the more who are at risk of being moved on by City as Guardiola loses faith in their ability to avoid making needless and costly errors.
