Chaos, crisis talks and calm - inside Man City camp after five defeats

The surprise this season at Manchester City isn't that the players have held a crisis meeting but that there has actually been a crisis.

Pep Guardiola employs a leadership group of five players who are responsible for the dressing room and over the years they have become the masters of knowing when to intervene before anything has slipped too much. The warning signs have been identified early, everyone in the dressing room has been allowed a say, and then they have cracked on and won the Premier League.

This year the Blues nearly went until November unbeaten in all competitions, yet that still didn't prevent the players getting together to warn each other that there must be improvements. Injuries to several of the captains did not stop did not stop them organising a group meeting.

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"I don't feel like this team needs a lot of team talks," explained vice-captain Kevin De Bruyne. "Probably we have about two really, really, you know, crisis meetings a year.

"So even last year or the year before, there's always been a point in time where we speak to the team and some people want to say what the expectations are, what we need to do or change. That's, I think, normal. So whenever we have a great season, that happens also.

"We already had a conversation, but that was already way before. So I don't think at this moment in time we need another one."

The reason the topic remains are on the agenda is because City are in their worst moment for results during Guardiola's nine years at the club. Five defeats in all competitions mean a home Champions League game with