Pep Guardiola insists he cannot “make a surgery on the brains” of Manchester City stars to save mentality | OneFootball

Manchester City’s players will not take on “surgery on the brains” from Pep Guardiola as the Catalan coach addressed the team’s mentality amid a difficult run of form.

The Premier League champions have won just one of their last nine matches across all competitions, and now embark on a mammoth week that could have significant ramifications on their hopes for success in the UEFA Champions League and English top-flight.

In European competition, an unbeaten Juventus side in Serie A host Manchester City in Turin on Wednesday night, with City hoping to secure a win to bounce back from a 4-1 loss to Sporting CP and a 3-3 draw against Feyenoord at the Etihad Stadium.

Sunday afternoon will then see Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United side visit the Etihad Stadium as Guardiola looks to add another win to victory over Nottingham Forest and last weekend’s draw to Crystal Palace away from home.

Speaking during an interview with TNT Sports ahead of Manchester City’s meeting with Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Guardiola was quizzed on the mentality of his players following a difficult run of form.

“The reality is that with the players that we have, we need to do it better and this is our target. Players come back, and of course, in one department we suffered a lot,” Guardiola pointed out this week.

“We struggled in that, but that defines the team, it defines the players, the managers, the clubs and everything, the difficulties and how you deal with it. Now is the moment,” he continued.

“I do not have complaints about that [the team’s mentality], I am not able to go to make a surgery on the brains of the players and what they are thinking about their mentality. I am not able to do it.

“Normally, the mentality is, if you lose, you don’t have the mentality and if you score in the 95th minute you have a strong mentality. To regain our confidence again is what we have to do as a team.”

Pep Guardiola will be hopeful that the return of both Mateo Kovacic and Phil Foden from injury and bronchitis respectively will bring about a further boost to the mood within his first-team group.

However, City continue to battle a number of defensive injury problems with Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, and John Stones all sidelined alongside Rodri and Oscar Bobb, while the Dutch defender is expected to be ruled out for ‘weeks’, according to Guardiola.