Man City boss backs players after stunning freefall

Manchester City's beleaguered boss Pep Guardiola insists he has "incredible trust" that the results will come for his team as the champions' crisis continued to grow with a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday.

Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers scored to hand City a stunning ninth loss in 12 matches across all competitions. Villa climbed over Guardiola's team into fifth in the table, while City are sixth, and could plummet to as low as ninth by the end of the weekend.

City's poor run has seen them drop 24 points in the league before even reaching the halfway point of the season. They dropped 23 points in total last season.

"We have to think positive and I have incredible trust in the guys," Guardiola told TNT Sports. "Some of them have incredible pride and desire to do it. We have to find a way, step by step, sooner or later to find a way back."

The manager gave his players two days off this week to clear their heads, saying the team's poor performance is "now all in our minds."

While they painted a picture of collective frustration on Saturday at Villa Park, Guardiola said he believes they will get their confidence back "step-by-step. We have nice personalities in the team and sooner or later we are going to find it."

City striker Erling Haaland said the team backs Guardiola, for whom this stretch is the worst in his otherwise glittering managerial career.

"He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that," Haaland told TNT. "He will find the solutions. He has been doing that every single year. We still believe in him, we have to work harder than ever right now."

Haaland, who was the Premier League's top scorer for the previous two seasons, has found the back of the net just twice in their last eight league games. He pointed the finger squarely at himself on Saturday.

"First I'm looking at myself, I haven't been scoring my chances," the Norwegian said. "I have to do better, I haven't been good enough."