The Citizens suffered a shock defeat against Southampton as they crashed out of the EFL Cup.
Ilkay Gundogan has admitted Manchester City are suffering from a lack of “desire and hunger” after their defeat against Southampton.
The Saints Stunned Pep Guardiola’s side with two goals in the first half. The Spanish boss made four changes at the beginning of the second period, but his side failed to register a single shot on target.
The 2-0 defeat saw Man City crash out of the EFL Cup as Southampton reached the tournament’s semi-finals.
As Man City prepare to face Manchester United in a crucial league derby on Saturday, Gundogan admits his side are far from their best form.
“Definitely I would share that it was a lack of attitude today, lack of confidence, lack of commitment you know,” Gundogan told BBC Radio Manchester.
He added: “I feel like, especially today but even in the last few weeks, we had games where we could have done better,” he continued, citing problems in City’s play despite picking up wins.
“Maybe we’ve won games but I feel like something was a little bit missing, something’s off. Obviously with the quality we have in the squad we’re always able to win games even when we don’t have the best day, but at the moment it feels like there’s a special recipe missing in the team – performances, the desire and hunger is maybe not as it was in recent years.
“Hopefully it was the right wake up call for us. If it is it’s something good we can take out of the game. We have to do better, we need to start the hard work again, be humble because things will not come to us automatically, we need to deserve them.”
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