Kyle Walker insists Manchester City will now see “the real characters” after fourth consecutive defeat

The “real characters” within the Manchester City dressing room will now emerge, according to club captain Kyle Walker, after a fourth successive defeat for the team.

Pep Guardiola’s side come into the final international break of the calendar year with four consecutive defeats to their name and having exited the Carabao Cup at the fourth round stage.

The 2-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was followed up by the same scoreline of defeat at Bournemouth, before a UEFA Champions League dismantling at the hands of Sporting despite going ahead in the game.

The same context would be issued at the Amex just days later, with Manchester City taking the lead against Brighton & Hove Albion only to concede twice in five minutes during the closing 15 minutes of the south coast encounter.

Speaking after Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat on Saturday evening, club captain Kyle Walker admitted that while there are ‘many reasons’ for the recent results, the squad will now showcase its ‘real characters’ as they prepare to ‘go through the mud’ after the break.

“There’s many reasons; there’s form, there’s how you’re feeling on a day-to-day,” Walker told broadcasters at the Amex Stadium on Saturday evening.

“You come in and it’s tough, but we’ve been very fortunate over the last eight years to have a lot of success, so this is the time you show character, this is the time when you stick your wellies on and you go through the mud, because as a group of players that have been here for a long time, we’ve never really experienced this.

“Now we get to see the real characters and whose going to push through and want to fight to really achieve something special at the end of the year,” he continued.

On how Manchester City intend to turn their fortunes around after the international break, and whether there is reason to be immediately alarmed by the results, Walker explained, “It’s down to us as a group of players, us as a club, everyone who is there day in day out to make sure that we’re fighting, we’re fighting for this great club that’s had a lot of success over the years.

“We’ve never done this, never gone four games without a win, and to come in this period, you kind of say we’ll take that where it’s not at the gritty end of the season, but still it’s tough to take and I can assure you everyone wants to turn it around as quickly as possible.”

Kyle Walker is one of two Manchester City players to have been selected for international duty by Lee Carsley and England, and reported for action fully-fit with Jack Grealish and Phil Foden withdrawing on Monday evening.

The total list of Manchester City players absent from international duty due to fitness and injury problems now consists of Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Oscar Bobb, Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Matheus Nunes, and Rodri.