Bernardo Silva sends clear message to City teammates amid ailing title defence
Bernardo Silva says Manchester City's players “need to look at ourselves” if they are to get their Premier League title defence back on track.
City's thrilling 3-3 draw with Tottenham on Sunday means Pep Guardiola's Treble-winners have failed to win any of their last three league games.
Guardiola's side have drawn against Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs, to fall three points behind title rivals and current league leaders Arsenal.
It is the first time City have failed to win in three consecutive league games since March 2017, during Guardiola’s first season, when they finished third.
Midfielder Silva said every member of City's squad must ask themselves what they can do better if the Blues are to have a chance of winning a record fourth league title in a row.
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“We need to look at ourselves,” said Silva. “We need to also finish and kill the game as we had the chances. We were very dominant – against Liverpool as well. It’s very frustrating and disappointing to finish this game with just one point.
“The little details matter at this level, and we need to defend better as a team. Individually, we need to look at ourselves and do better. Score our chances because we had so many.
“Also defend in the little details and in the last minutes. If we want to win games, we cannot concede three or four goals every game. Sometimes we will score five or six, but most of the time we will not be able to, so we need to defend well as a team.
“Everyone needs to do better. Offensively as well – make better decisions, demand more from ourselves and if we do that we're a very difficult team to stop.”
City travel to Aston Villa tomorrow, with Silva admitting Guardiola's side – who will be without suspended duo Rodri and Jack Grealish – must be prepared for a testing encounter.
Silva has a clear message for his City teammates (David Blunsden/Action Plus/REX/Shutterstock)“We need to be prepared because we know how good they are this season and how well managed and organised they’ve been,” said Silva. “We need to recover mentally and physically to be prepared for that game.”
City defender Josko Gvardiol echoed team-mate Silva and said: “We need to analyse the game and have a look at the mistakes we made.
“We try to not concede a goal in every game, but you also need to know that Spurs are dangerous up front with fast players and good in transitions. We know their qualities but, as defenders, we need to improve some things.
“But it's now behind us and we move onto the next one on Wednesday against Villa. It’s going to be a tough one, but we need to recover and be ready.
“We believe in our qualities, and we need to stay focused on ourselves. We keep going. We need to stick together and do what we do best.”
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