Inside Etihad Stadium as Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Txiki Begiristain ‘expect’ Man City revival during second-half of season | OneFootball

Two of Manchester City’s leading officials remain calm amid the club’s struggling run of form, and expect some sort of revival during the second-half of the campaign.

Pep Guardiola and his players are continuing to tirelessly work towards solutions to get their season across competitions back on track, having endured a torrid run of form and results across their last 10 matches.

Defeats to Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Liverpool and Tottenham were followed up by a brief return to winning ways in the Premier League against Nottingham Forest, only to fall at the next hurdle in a 2-2 draw away to Crystal Palace.

European competition has not been any kinder to City either, with defeats away to Sporting CP and Juventus in 4-1 and 2-0 scores respectively, whilst a 3-0 home lead against Feyenoord was blown in the final 15 minutes to draw 3-3 at the Etihad Stadium on matchday five.

But from within the Etihad Stadium and outside of the immediate first-team circle, there is no sense of panic at the fact that City have lost seven of their last 10 matches in all competitions, and won just once in that team.

That is according to the information of The Telegraph, who report that internally at Manchester City there is said to be ‘no panic’, in a message ‘reinforced’ by sporting director Txiki Begiristain and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

The report claims that both men know that the club’s number six position is a problem and there are other issues to address, but players are coming back from injury and as such Begiristain and Al Mubarak expect the second half of the season to be ‘different’.

That message coincides with Pep Guardiola’s contract renewal, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2027, with The Telegraph quoting a source as saying, “He wasn’t about to leave having the squad like this.”

Uncertainty had been swirling over Guardiola’s immediate term future at Manchester City for a number of months leading up to his latest extension, with reports linking the club to a range of managerial solutions from across Europe.

One of those names was Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso, who is now likely to be front and centre of Real Madrid’s attentions as they look for a long-term replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, with discussions over such a change around of coaches like to happen next summer.

As for who City could turn towards should Guardiola leave in 2027, those conversations are unlikely to be in the picture right now given the ever-changing scene in the game, but the Catalan coach has been certain that Vincent Kompany is a future Etihad Stadium boss.