Phil Foden issues public support for Pep Guardiola and claims City performance was enough to beat Manchester United | OneFootball

Manchester City’s performance on Sunday afternoon was enough to defeat Manchester United, Phil Foden has claimed in a post-match interview.

Pep Guardiola’s side slumped to yet another hugely disappointing defeat in an 11-game run that has seen the club lose eight of those outings, with the loss to Ruben Amorim’s side coming despite taking the lead.

Josko Gvardiol excellently met a Kevin De Bruyne deflected cross in the first-half to give his side the advantage that would hold until late in the second-half, before Matheus Nunes would clatter into Amad Diallo and give away a penalty dispatched by Bruno Fernandes.

Diallo would be at the centre of jubilant scenes for City’s bitter rivals just minute later, lobbing goalkeeper Ederson to tap home beyond a helpless Gvardiol and Nunes from a tight angle to win the game.

Bernardo Silva was among the Manchester City players to speak out in brutal honesty after the game, claiming that he and his teammates played like an Under-15s side as they battle against a horrid run of cross-competition form.

Speaking during his own post-match media duties, Phil Foden believed that while he and his City teammates are ‘nowhere near’ the level they need to be at, they are still playing ‘good enough’ to be securing results across competitions.

“We keep believing in the process and the manager – I’m sure if we do that we will get back to winning ways and get back to our level,” Foden said. “It’s about remaining focused throughout the full 90 minutes, but we keep switching off at important times.”

The England international continued, “We just need to get the focus right. We stick together, regroup and believe in ourselves after what we’ve achieved in the past.”

Continuing on the subject of Sunday’s Manchester derby defeat in isolation, Foden admitted, “I can’t put a finger on what’s going on. I thought the performance was more than good enough to get the result, but we came out with no points, it seems to be same story at the moment.”

“The changing room is obviously going to be down and sad, but we can’t dwell on this too much – we have to try and pick ourselves back up,” he said. “It’s about keeping our mentality strong throughout the whole 90 minutes and we’re not doing that at the moment.

“We have to go again and show character to come back from this blip. It’s not a time for moaning – it’s about sticking together, remaining strong and going again. I’m positive we are going to come back.”

Manchester City return to Premier League action with yet another hugely challenging contest this weekend as they visit Aston Villa away from home in the early kick-off on Saturday lunchtime.