Phil Foden highlights Man City's biggest problem as champions left speechless against Utd

Phil Foden says Manchester City players continue to believe in the “process” and manager Pep Guardiola, despite rivals Manchester United continuing their miserable recent run.

Hopes of securing a record fifth consecutive Premier League crown already appear to have gone up in smoke given the way things have gone off the rails recently.

Sunday's crushing 2-1 derby defeat at home to neighbors United leaves City fifth in the table and nine points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand against their title rivals.

Bruno Fernandes' late penalty canceled out Josko Gvardiol's header at a shell-shocked Etihad Stadium, where Amad Diallo struck at the death as Guardiola oversaw an eighth defeat in 11 matches.

“We are still far from our level, but I still think we are playing well enough to get points and results,” said attacking midfielder Foden before pointing out a big problem the team needs to resolve.

“It's about staying focused throughout the 90 minutes, but we keep switching off at important moments. We just have to concentrate properly.

“We stay together, regroup and believe in ourselves after what we have achieved in the past. We continue to believe in the process and the manager. I am sure if we do that we will get back to winning ways and get back to our level.”

Guardiola committed his future to City by signing a new deal until 2027 during a rotten run that began with the Carabao Cup exit to Tottenham on October 30.

The defeat means they now have a free midweek to reflect and refresh ahead of Saturday's tough Premier League trip to Aston Villa.

“I can’t understand what’s happening,” Foden said after the defeat to United. “I thought the performance was more than enough to get the result, but we come out without points, and it seems like it's the same story at the moment. We just have to stay together.

“The dressing room is obviously going to be run down and sad at the moment, but we can't dwell on that too much. We have to try to get back up. In football there's always another opportunity to make things right.”

City's trip to Villa this weekend is followed by a Boxing Day match at home to Everton before closing out 2024 at Leicester.

“It's about keeping our mentality strong throughout the 90 minutes and we're not doing that at the moment,” Foden said. “We have to go back and show character to come back from this incident.

“This is not the time to whine, it's about staying together, staying strong and going again. I'm sure we'll come back.”