Gary Neville believes Manchester City are “on the decline” and that winning the Premier League this season would be Pep Guardiola’s “greatest” title win.
The champions were smashed 4-0 by Tottenham at the Etihad on Saturday to make it five defeats in a row in all competitions.
James Maddison raced Spurs into an early 2-0 lead before second-half goals from Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson sent the Londoners home very happy.
City are now five points behind leaders Liverpool – who have a game in hand against Southampton – in the Premier League table having lost their last three top flight matches against Bournemouth, Brighton and now Spurs.
People anticipated a difficult period for the Citizens following Rodri’s season-ending ACL injury but nobody could have seen such a disastrous spell coming.
The Ballon d’Or winner’s influence has never been so striking and with Mateo Kovacic ruled out for a month, Spurs absolutely killed Guardiola’s side.
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Man City troubles deeper than Rodri absence, they are ‘declining’ – Neville
Former Manchester United defender Neville insists “this is more than just Rodri, far more” and believes City are “on the decline”.
Several City players are on the wrong side of 30 and Neville, speaking from priceless experience, says it is understandable that “the physical and mental demands” of winning – and being expected to win – year after year can take its toll.
“When you’re on the decline – and I hate to use the word decline, but it does feel like it – it’s a group of players with a number of things [going wrong],” he told Sky Sports.
“The idea of growing slightly old together, the idea of playing the volume of games together, the physical and mental demands of that, and the third thing is how many times you can keep going.
“I played for a manager and a club who kept going, but there were times when you just fall over. You’ve won the league three times on the bounce, twice, you’ve done doubles, you’ve won trebles, and you just can’t go any further.
“Your shoulders just drop a bit, and it looks like that’s the kind of thing that’s happened here.
“It’s a group of players who have run a million miles. They’ve been sensational. But they’ve become a little bit punch-drunk. Leggy, lacking in energy, they’ve lost players and a couple of vital players out through injury.
“It’s a big game next week, Liverpool vs City, and there’s only a few points in it, there’s a long way to go, but it feels like today, if Man City were to win the title this season, I think it would be Pep’s greatest Premier League.”
City’s losing streak includes a Champions League defeat at Sporting and being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Spurs.
They are back in action at home to Dutch side Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday before a significant trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday.
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