Manchester City have fallen on hard times and their treble-winning captain Ilkay Gundogan has called on the team to not lose their faith in each other and their path.
City lost to Brighton and Hove Albion, marking their second consecutive loss in the Premier League and their first ever four-game winless run under Pep Guardiola, who also lost four games in a row for the first time in his storied career.
The manager, after the match, conceded defeat in the Premier League title race, even though many are taking his words at face value thanks to precedents he has set in recent seasons. Still, those comments from him look to be sparking hope among rival fans of other title challengers, who have taken to social media to charge their teams to pick up the ball that City seems to have dropped.
All of these is not lost on Gundogan, who returned to City after a year away at Barcelona, where he went to fulfill a career dream following his treble win at Manchester City.
Gundogan was speaking to Manchester City media on the current state of the club when he called on his teammates to keep believing.
“The standard for us is really high but we are setting ourselves very high standards,” he explained. “That’s why we are disappointed and frustrated with the way things are going right now. There is no other way than to keep doing the right things and keep believing.
“It’s important that we are honest with ourselves and what we can do better. We know that and we need to know that we need to get back on track – there’s a responsibility to play for City.
“The expectations are high and that’s normal. It’s something we’ve dealt with in the past and we need to deal with in the future.”
He added: “It’s still just the start of the season and we are still more than ready to go in all the competitions – that’s our plan and we want to keep a very important role as long as possible in all competitions so we will try again.
“Collectively we have to do better. It’s still very early in the season and we need to be confident that we can play a role in all the competitions until the end.
“The experience definitely helps and it’s what you make out of it – you can’t rely on the past and what you’ve done before. You have to do the right things.”
