Manchester City are in crisis, admits Pellegrini

Manuel Pellegrini admits Manchester City are suffering a crisis of confidence after Wednesday’s shock home defeat to CSKA Moscow left them on the brink of another humiliating Champions League exit.

Seydou Doumbia struck twice for the Russians to give them a first ever victory on English soil, while Fernandinho and Yaya Toure were both sent off in the second half as City imploded.

The Premier League champions now lie bottom of Group E with matches against Bayern Munich and Roma to play and, while he insists they are not out yet, Pellegrini is at a loss to explain the cause of their struggles.

“It’s a crisis of confidence, of course, but we must find out why,” he told Sky Sports. “We will talk to the players every day and try to win again.

“It’s difficult to understand why we played so bad. From the beginning we are so nervous and we lose so many passes. We gave them the two goals and really we didn’t play.

“It’s difficult to know why you have so low performance from important players. The way we tried to play, we are not changing anything from what we’ve done in other GAMES. It’s a strange moment to understand why.

“In the last two weeks we are not playing the way we normally do. I don’t understand why but we must find a reason.

“The referee had to decide about that [the two red cards]. I don’t know if Fernandinho made the second foul for the second yellow card. The first half especially we didn’t see the team we normally see. We shot once at their goal and we concede two easy goals.

When asked if the result ends City’s hopes of progession, Pellegrini added: “No. You never must think you’re out when mathematics say you are in.

“Not only for Champions League because we have Premier League this Saturday against QPR – we must try to return to our normal performance.”

Source; dailyindependent