'Do you think we can compete?' - Guardiola's damning question hints at Man City summer overhaul

Pep Guardiola predicts difficult decisions will have to be made in the summer to avoid a repeat of Manchester City's ongoing nightmare of a season.

Defeat to Real Madrid this week put City's Champions League progress in peril and they face a huge test in Spain on Wednesday to turn the tie around. Before that, a showdown with Newcastle awaits on Saturday with both sides level on points and goal difference in fifth and sixth place as they battle to qualify for next season's Champions League.

It is City's first league game since their 5-1 humbling at Arsenal, with Guardiola saying their ongoing failure to maintain consistency in fitness and performance has him stuck for answers. After going into detail on City's unexpected suffering with the ball, he then asked: "Do you think we can compete against the physicality from Newcastle?"

And having stated bluntly that City 'deserve to have a bad season', he added he does not think he will get his top players back 'at their best' before the summer.

Guardiola passionately defended his players, recalling a time in his own career when he struggled from one season where 'I was the best midfielder' to the next where 'I cannot give one pass'.

But equally, he said decisions must be taken in the summer to avoid the same injury issues and frequent collapses from happening again next term. While not specifically naming any player or change that could be made, he was more generally speaking about his older squad members and frequent injuries in an extraordinary press conference.

He said: "At the end of the season, the team, myself, the club, we take the decisions that we have to take, to try to avoid what happened this season in terms of injuries, in terms of many things, many things