‘They have a duty!’ Pep Guardiola feels his players failed during Arsenal thrashing | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola is not happy with his players who ‘did not do their duty’ during an embarrassing evening at the Emirates Stadium.

Manchester City succumbed to a 5-1 defeat against Arsenal. After going 1-0 down early on in the game, City equalised shortly before the hour mark. However, the champions capitulated after this, shipping four more goals before the final whistle.

It was one of the heaviest defeats that Guardiola has ever suffered in his managerial career, matching the four goal deficit from City’s loss to Tottenham earlier in the season. It comes at an especially damaging time for the Blues, as they head into a crucial part of their season.

A Champions League double header with Real Madrid approaches in the coming weeks. Advancing in the competition will be the last chance for City to make a real success of their season. Consequently, Guardiola will need his players at the top of their game.

Despite this, the Catalan did not hold back from criticising his players after an embarrassing defeat. Guardiola reflected “They can be fragile but they have a duty to do. What they have to do and they did not do it.

“You have to overcome, you cannot lose the control, it’s 90, 95 minutes. You cannot finish in the way we played. We could’ve scored three more but the team has to be stable it doesn’t matter what has happened.

“It is obvious that the players are getting old, the manager is getting old, so it is normal.”

Asked if the atmosphere was angry and emotional in the dressing room, City’s boss responded “It has to be when you lose a football game in that way, especially in the last 25 minutes.”

Guardiola added “I only regret the last 20, 25 minutes. We forgot to do what we should do, what we’ve done for 60, 65, 70 minutes.

“It’s a difficult game starting like that in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes and it’s happened many times this season.”

The treble-winning manager is not ready to give up on the season or his players yet though. Despite the heavy defeat, he asserts “We are still in February, we have a lot of games to play. The senior players have been and are so important, and of course the new players will help us in the new times.”