Pep Guardiola: “City’s poor run is on everyone and not just Haaland”

Current Premier League champions Manchester City have lost nine of their last 12 games. That’s the same number of defeats they had in their previous 106 matches. The Sky Blues have gone from heaven to hell this season and their title hopes are fading fast.

After defeat to Aston Villa last weekend, City will spend Christmas in seventh place and are currently out of a European place. The Catalan coach gave his players a couple of days off to work off before returning to work at Christmas before starting to prepare for the Boxing Day clash with Everton.

Why do you think Haaland hasn’t been scoring in recent games?

Well, first of all, Merry Christmas to everyone. The problem is us, not just one player. When Haaland was more prolific, it was also for us, for the team. Haaland is very important for us, and will continue to be. We have to use him better. But it is not a question of just one player, but of all of them. The lads are running more than ever, but there are some small details, and some big ones, that do not allow us to be as good as before. On Boxing Day we have the opportunity to try to buy some time for the injured players to recover.

Will your team be able to come back in the match against Everton?

In this situation there is no ideal opponent. It is about us, about getting back to our best level. It will take time. We have to get results as soon as possible. Now we face Everton, who are putting together some decent results and their recent results and performances show that.

Will Stones be available to play against his former team?

I don’t know. He couldn’t continue in the second half at Villa Park, so he might not be available. We trained this afternoon, we’ll see which players are available. Right now I don’t know.

What are your plans for Christmas?

We train today and tomorrow night. We spend the night here and play on Boxing Day. The players will be here tonight and tomorrow morning with their families. I hope they want to be here tomorrow night, it is our duty.

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