Gary Neville is starting to have doubts about Manchester City’s chances of winning the title due to the strange atmosphere at the club following their defeat to Tottenham.
Gary Neville, former Manchester United defender and current Sky Sports pundit, has expressed his concerns about Manchester City’s title prospects.
Following City’s loss to Tottenham, Neville noted that ‘something isn’t right’ at the club and that the recent display was not a typical ‘Pep Guardiola performance.’ The Sky pundit also pointed out that the strange atmosphere surrounding the reigning champions is difficult to pinpoint.
Neville highlighted the confusion of January, which saw key player Joao Cancelo transfer to Bayern Munich and top stars relegated to the bench, as a factor in his doubt regarding his previous title prediction. He stated on The Gary Neville Podcast,
“I’m less sure about City because of what has happened in the past week. The Cancelo incident, the benching of De Bruyne, Dias, Laporte and Gundogan – it all feels a bit odd.”
Neville also commented on the poor performance of City’s midfield, a traditionally strong area for the team, during their match against Tottenham. This has raised his concerns and he stated, “City’s midfield, usually such an area of strength for them, looked out of sorts and overrun at times at Tottenham. This is a very odd period in terms of what’s going on. They are not right.”
This season, City has already lost four games, more than the entire previous season where they won the title by a single point ahead of Liverpool. With the club’s recent events and poor performances, Neville believes that City is facing an ‘odd period’ and that there is cause for concern.