Phil Foden lifts the lid on the mood inside the Man City dressing room following capitulation against arch rivals United… as England star makes defiant vow amid alarming slump

Manchester City’s dressing room are firmly behind Pep Guardiola amid the club’s worst run of form for 18 years.

Guardiola admitted that his management of the Premier League champions had not been ‘good enough’ in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s galling Manchester derby defeat.

It leaves City – who have lost eight of their last 11 matches in all competitions – nine points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.

Despite that, Phil Foden has backed Guardiola to turn their fortunes around.

‘We are still nowhere near our level, but I still believe that we are playing good enough to get points and results,’ Foden said.

‘We keep believing in the process and the manager – I’m sure if we do that we will get back to winning ways and get back to our level.

Man City manager Pep Guardiola has now overseen eight defeats in his team’s last 11 games

But Foden is backing Guardiola and said: ‘We keep believing in the process and the manager’

‘It’s about remaining focused throughout the full 90 minutes, but we keep switching off at important times. We just need to get the focus right. We stick together, regroup and believe in ourselves after what we’ve achieved in the past.’

Manchester United’s two late goals deflated the Etihad Stadium at the weekend and City go to Aston Villa on Saturday knowing that Unai Emery’s side, Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton are all within one result of them.

The last time City suffered this much was under Stuart Pearce in 2006, with nine defeats in 10 games. Foden has blamed a fragile mentality on their demise.

‘I can’t put a finger on what’s going on,’ Foden added. ‘I thought the (United) performance was more than good enough to get the result, but we came out with no points, and it seems to be same story at the moment.

‘The changing room is obviously going to be down and sad, but we can’t dwell on this too much – we have to try and pick ourselves back up.

‘It’s about keeping our mentality strong throughout the whole 90 minutes and we’re not doing that at the moment.

‘We have to go again and show character to come back from this blip. It’s not a time for moaning – it’s about sticking together, remaining strong and going again. I’m positive we are going to come back.’