Bernardo Silva believed Manchester City had fallen into a “dark place” after losing 4-1 to Sporting Lisbon. The Champions League defeat followed a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth, which allowed Liverpool to take the Premier League lead, and a Carabao Cup exit at Tottenham Hotspur.
City were rocked by new Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim’s team at the Jose Alvalade Stadium on Tuesday, falling to their third consecutive defeat thanks to a hat-trick from former Coventry striker Viktor Gyokeres.
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It was also Pep Guardiola’s team’s first Champions League defeat without a penalty shootout since 2022. And, following losses to Tottenham and Bournemouth in the last week, Silva believes City needs to do some soul searching.
“It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now,” the Portugal international told TNT Sports. “Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.
“Even when we play well, we don’t take our chances and succumb too readily. We absolutely need to look inside and see what we’re not doing well, and we need to improve immediately or it would be tough to recover from these defeats.
Manager Pep Guardiola was more positive, insisting he was looking forward to the challenge of rebounding back.
The City manager, who heads his team to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, stated, “I don’t agree with him.” We are not on the dark side.
“We struggled against Bournemouth but performed admirably here. The only disappointment is that the third and fourth penalties were unnecessary.
“We anticipated it would be a challenging season from the outset, and that is exactly what it has been. I like it, I love it, and I want to face it and inspire my teammates. Life is like this. We continue.
“What shall we do? We return to Manchester and prepare for the game in Brighton. I will not give up, that is for sure.
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