‘Best stability test is anfield’

Pep Guardiola says he is braced for the challenge of turning around Manchester Cityrsquos fortunes after the worst run of his managerial career ahead of a daunting trip to runaway Premier League leaders LiverpoolWinless in six gamesCity are without a win in six games with five consecutive defeats followed by a 33 Champions League draw against Feyenoord on Tuesday when City blew a 30 lead in the final 15 minutesDefeat at Anfield on Sunday would leave the Premier League champions 11 points behind Arne Slotrsquos men Guardiolarsquos angst was clear in midweek as he appeared on camera after the Feyenoord game with a number of selfinflicted scratches on his facePep GuardiolaThe 53yearold recently extended his contract at the Etihad until 2027 and said the chance to overcome a rare period of adversity played a part in that decision ldquoThe moment I feel Irsquom not positive for the club another one will come It has to be the case But I want an opportunity to try to do itrdquo Guardiola said at his prematch press conference on Friday ldquoI donrsquot want to run away I want to be there I want to rebuild the team in many aspects from now on until the end of the season the next seasons to try to continue up thererdquoCity have repeatedly rewritten the record books of English football during Guardiolarsquos eight years in charge They have won six Premier League titles in seven seasons including an unprecedented four in a row and won the treble in 2023But Guardiola has repeatedly called his side ldquofragilerdquo and lacking in confidence in recent weeks ldquoIn the first knock we are not as stable as we have always beenrdquo he saidldquoIn the past when we were able to go 30 up we didnrsquot score the fourth we didnrsquot score the fifth but the game was deadldquoNow in the first moments of adversity I donrsquot know how we are going to react for obvious reasons that we have for the desperation to win for the absence of important players The best test to prove how stable we are is Anfield because we cannot expect they will not have that moment and momentum and that is when we have to stand up as a teamrdquo he addedGuardiola though disagreed that Cityrsquos squad is in need of an overhaul in the transfer marketLot of players missingBallon drsquoOr winner Rodri has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury while Guardiola has had to cope without a number of other key players ldquoYou have to now change everything mdash I donrsquot completely agree with that We cannot forget three months ago we were champions of the Premier Leaguerdquo he saidSaturdayrsquos results Brentford 41 Leicester City Crystal Palace 11 Newcastle Nottingham 10 Ipswich Wolves 24 BournemouthThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever