What Pep Guardiola and Man City fans did at full time vs Everton magnifies Blues issues

Manchester City's players spent their Christmas night together at the Etihad Campus, bedding down at the training ground to try and change their miserable run of form. Given the mood around the club at the moment a festive movie probably wasn't on the agenda. Instead, they went for the Nightmare After Christmas.

There would have been little festive merriment before the game and even less when their 24 hours at the Etihad came to an end. This is the kind of run to get Christmas cancelled. In fact, for many elite clubs, it is the kind of run to get a manager cancelled.

When the final whistle blew at the Etihad, Guardiola took a couple of steps onto the pitch and stood there for a few seconds, wistfully surveying the scene in front of him. The emptying stands from which boos had just tumbled down. The disconsolate, beaten players. This was a point that felt like anything but.

In City's stunning slump it's been hard to actually gauge the level they are at and what we should be expecting now. But Everton at the Etihad? Surely this was a gift-wrapped Boxing Day fixture to start turning fortunes around.

It was not to be. The loss of Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish beforehand suggested as much and while Guardiola didn't find a lump of coal in his stocking, he can't yet pull out a few new players either, even if he has made it clear that is his expectation for January.

After a run of one win in 13 and some desperately dismal displays, many managers would be looking over their shoulders. That isn't the case here. The only person likely to decide if and when Guardiola goes is the man himself.

But this is beginning to look and feel like the kind of run which gets managers sacked. When bad luck starts to collide with bad performances,