Man City 3-3 Feyenoord: Pep Guardiola’s side ‘fragile’, ‘weak’ and ‘frail’ after draw

Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol cost £77m when he joined City from RB Leipzig in August 2023.

He struggled in the 4-0 home defeat by Tottenham at the weekend and on Tuesday was at fault for Feyenoord’s first and second goals.

Gvardiol horribly misplaced a backpass which allowed Anis Hadj Moussa to nip in and round Ederson to score Feyenoord’s first goal.

Ordinarily that would have been a mere consolation and City would have closed out the game, but Gvardiol had another moment to forget eight minutes from time.

Again he gave the ball away and Feyenoord pounced. The ball was lofted into the box and Jordan Lotomba fired a shot that glanced the post and deflected across goal, where substitute Santiago Gimenez chested in.

“It was a comical defensive error from Josko Gvardiol that allowed Feyenoord back into the game and they capitulated,” former England winger Andros Townsend told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We have never seen defensive frailties like this from Manchester City before. It seems to be popping up in every single game they’ve played recently.

“They were cruising. In the end, all that hard work from City is undone, and the pressure now mounts even more ahead of the Premier League game against Liverpool.”

Former Manchester City player Gael Clichy said Guardiola’s side are missing a “vocal” leader in the team.

“You cannot continue making individual mistakes,” Clichy told Amazon Prime.

“That has happened in the last six matches. They are missing a vocal leader. A strong leader at the back.”

Guardiola added: “Gvardiol will learn. He was the best player on the pitch but I will be so wrong if I point a specific thing at him.

“He is a fantastic player, fantastic boy and more than ever must be helped.”