Ilkay Gundogan insists ‘EVERY Man City player has to question themselves’ and blames ‘mental issues’ as Juventus defeat puts Champions League hopes in jeopardy

Ilkay Gundogan has called upon ‘every single Manchester City player to question themselves’ and fix the team’s ‘mental issue’ after another underconfident performance saw the side fall 2-0 to Juventus in the Champions League. 

Pep Guardiola’s side were frustrated by the hosts on Wednesday night in a cagey first-half, before Dusan Vlahovic opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. 

Second-half substitute Weston McKennie doubled the Old Lady’s lead at the Allianz Stadium with a superlative acrobatic strike, for which the visitors had no reply. 

Worryingly for the serial champions, Wednesday’s result leaves Man City sitting 22nd in the league standings, well outside the automatic qualification places, and in danger of failing to qualify for the knockout stages all together. 

In their last 10 games, the English champions have won only once, and in Gundogan’s eyes, the team’s issue is ‘a mental issue’. 

‘It’s very disappointing,’ Gundogan told TNT Sports. ‘I feel like we had chances to score actually a few goals, but at the moment, it just feels like every attack we concede is so dangerous. I don’t know. 

The former club captain called upon his team-mates to look within themselves to stamp out ‘careless’ play

Pep Guardiola’s side have now recorded only one win in their last 10 matches home and abroad

‘I have a feeling sometimes we are a bit careless on the duels and instead of playing simple, we overcomplicate things. 

‘(Confidence) is a big part of it and obviously that’s a mental issue as well. I feel like you can see we are, one action we miss the ball or lose the duel and you see we drop immediately and lose the rhythm. 

‘They are able to break our rhythm with the smallest of things. In the crucial moments right now we are always doing the wrong things.

‘I feel like we know exactly what is going wrong and the reasons, and still if you look at the most part of the games, we don’t play bad, (we play) quite good football, we just miss to score and it is not that easy to come back it is so obvious what is going wrong but it is trying to find the switch. This is my personal opinion and how I feel.

In a rallying cry to his team-mates, Gundogan added: ‘Every single player individually has to question themselves and how they can sacrifice more to contribute.’

Man City will now return to England with a view to turning around their lacklustre run against a side with a similarly spotty recent record, crosstown rivals Manchester United.