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SUTTON: Pep coming across as the mad professor & his experiments aren't working

  /  autty

Sending Joao Cancelo on loan to Bayern Munich? Madness. Dropping Kevin De Bruyne for a game you need to win to move within two points of Arsenal? Madness.

Asking 18-year-old Rico Lewis to constantly receive the ball on the half-turn while Tottenham's pressers lurk like vultures? Madness. And it led to the winning goal from Harry Kane at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Pep Guardiola is trying very hard to come across as the mad professor with the decisions he's making and, right now, they aren't doing Manchester City much good. His side aren't carrying that air of superiority we've seen from them in the past.

They don't look like the City slickers who've won four of the last five Premier League titles and that's a big concern for those of a sky-blue persuasion.

Arsenal lost to Everton on Saturday and yet City didn't seize their opportunity yesterday like champions-in-waiting should. Lewis is neat and tidy, young and talented, keen and confident, but City are asking a lot of this academy kid.

I still can't wrap my head around Cancelo. I'd love to know what went on between him and Guardiola, how and why City felt they could afford to let him leave.

It screams of the manager cutting off his nose to spite his face. City are worse off without Cancelo. They lost him and lost to Tottenham while he was winning with Bayern at Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga yesterday.

This was a damaging day and one which showed that City have a lot of work to do if they are to overtake Arsenal.