Bernardo Silva claims Man City are in a ‘DARK place’ after their humbling 4-1 defeat against Sporting Lisbon… but Pep Guardiola disagrees and urges his players to be more ’emotionally stable’

Bernardo Silva admitted that Manchester City are ‘in a dark place’ after three consecutive competitive defeats for the first time in six years.

City were humbled 4-1 by Ruben Amorim’s Sporting on the manager’s final home game before taking the reins at Manchester United next week.

Pep Guardiola branded his players emotionally unstable in giving away two penalties for hat-trick hero Viktor Gyokeres after a second-half capitulation which also saw Erling Haaland miss a penalty in the Portuguese capital.

‘Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily,’ Silva lamented. 

‘We definitely need to look inside and check what we’re not doing well. And we need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.

Sporting Lisbon triumphed 4-1 over the Premier League club to inflict their third loss in a row

Pep Guardiola disagreed with Silva’s assessment, insisting his team are ‘not in a dark side’

‘It’s disappointing because we’re in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.

‘It’s difficult to find reasons for what is happening to us. I don’t remember this team losing three games in a row. It just looks like this team is going the wrong way now.’

A fired-up Guardiola disagreed with Silva’s assessment, maintaining that City – who took an early lead through Phil Foden – were much improved from the weekend defeat at Bournemouth.

And the Catalan, out of contract in the summer, insisted that the dip in results is giving him extra energy.

‘We’re not in a dark side,’ Guardiola said. ‘It’s impossible to say it was a good performance, we lost 4-1, but the players know they played good. We were what we are.

‘I won’t give up. Maybe people are waiting but I won’t give up. I like it, I love it. I want to face it, to lift my players and try it. Life is like this. But it’s difficult for the players, I understand it.

‘In some actions, we don’t have to touch the opponents in the box. Emotionally we are not stable enough. We cannot give away the actions. I am here. I want to be here and fight and not give up. I like this challenge. People who want to follow us, they will be there.’

It was a particularly tough night for Erling Haaland, who blazed his penalty on to the crossbar

The Portuguese midfielder was interviewed immediately after City were thumped in Lisbon

Viktor Gyokeres scored a stunning hat-trick to complete Sporting sensational turnaround

Guardiola claimed that goals are hard to come by for City, with a number of missed opportunities before Sporting went ahead seconds after the break. ‘It happened in my first years,’ he said. ‘Find excuses? Everyone has to be better.’

Silva added: ‘The good thing is even though we have lost these three games we are still in a good position especially in the Premier League. After losing three games we are still in the main competitions fighting for everything. But we need to better, obviously.

‘Our injured players need to come back because we need them and it’s just not good enough tonight.’

Amorim was afforded an emotional farewell, given a guard of honour by his players at full time before being mobbed by the squad.

‘It was written on the wall that this had to be like this,’ Amorim said. ‘I thank everybody for the victory. If we hadn’t won the match the moment wouldn’t be so nice.

‘The players know what I did for them and what they did for me. I will keep these memories forever. It was written that I should say goodbye like this.

Guardiola urged that ‘everyone has to be better’ when asked to assess the disappointing result

Missing key chances has been a key problem for Manchester City of late – and was highlighted in particular during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Bournemouth in the Premier League

‘The most special night over the last four years was when we lost 5-0 against City here and everybody applauded us.

‘Everybody here, who saw Sporting over the last four years, deserved a night like this. We shouldn’t stop here. It’s personal because of the circumstances but we must think about the next match at Braga. My little boy is a Sporting fan and will remain that.’

Gyokeres was one of the first to thank his manager and conceded: ‘We will miss him a lot. We’ve done amazing things together. We will miss him and the other guys in the staff who will leave.’