Something’s not right at Man City and De Bruyne looks unhappy, says Agbonlahor

Gabriel Agbonlahor suggested Manchester City have problems with an ‘unhappy’ Kevin De Bruyne this season.

City dropped points to Tottenham on Sunday while Pep Guardiola dropped De Bruyne to the bench to the dismay of the footballing world.

The Belgian was eventually brought on but the damage had been done as Spurs beat the Premier League champions 1-0 through Harry Kane’s record-breaking goal as Erling Haaland toiled.

But that was not the only glaring omission, with Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte both on the bench as well, while Phil Foden was not even in the squad, though Guardiola admitted that was down to illness.

It follows from Joao Cancelo’s rushed transfer out of the Etihad in January while the signs indicate that not all is well under Guardiola right now.

That is what Aston Villa legend, and talkSPORT pundit, Agbonlahor insisted on The Sports Breakfast, saying: “Everyone keeps saying, ‘Manchester City are going to hit a run of form’, what if they don’t?

“I feel like the Premier League now, there are no easy games, you look at Arsenal going to Everton, they probably thought, ‘Oh new manager, but we’ve got enough, [Bukayo] Saka, [Gabriel] Martinelli, we’ll get a result’, but no they don’t.

“Manchester City, Pep [Guardiola] tried to play some of his fringe players, keep his best player on the bench [Kevin De Bruyne], they go and lose to Spurs.

“Last night, Manchester United probably thought, ‘Leeds at home, no manager, no win this year in the Premier League, oh we’re 2-0 down.’

“Something’s not right there [at City], you look at the body language, watching the game and Kevin De Bruyne’s body language on the bench, he didn’t seem happy did he?

“[Erling] Haaland must have thought when he saw the team sheet, ‘Where’s Kev? I need Kev, no-one else looks forward!’”

There has been plenty of talk over Haaland in recent weeks, including from Jamie Carragher who insists the Norway international might have joined the wrong team.

But cameras picked up De Bruyne on the bench looking miserable while earlier in the season, it looked like he and Haaland had forged an instant connection.

The 31-year-old has 11 assists in the Premier League this season – more than anyone else.

However, Guardiola insisted that his absence from the starting XI was a tactical decision, despite that appearing to stifle City’s creativity against Spurs.

“Well I would say more focus will be on today than yesterday, of course when the team top of the league drops points,” he said before kick-off.

“But nothing changes, we have to do our job and that’s why all day I was thinking about what you have to do.”