“We have no evidence” – Barcelona psychiatrist offers assessment of Pep Guardiola following post-Feyenoord emotions

A psychiatrist in Barcelona has ruled out the possibility of Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola having “lost his mind” in any capacity, despite the ongoing run of poor form.

The Premier League champions find themselves as the centre of their worst run of results since Pep Guardiola took over as head coach in the summer of 2016, losing five of their last six matches and not winning any contests in that period.

In fact, Manchester City’s last win in any competition is now over a month ago, when they dismissed of low-lying Southampton at the Etihad Stadium thanks to a singular first-half goal from Erling Haaland.

Since then, defeats have come twice at the hands of Tottenham, on the south coast to Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion, as well as Sporting CP in the UEFA Champions League, whilst that outing was followed up by a dramatic 3-3 home draw against Feyenoord.

The calamitous loss of concentration and quality against the Dutch giants on Tuesday night saw City blow a three-goal advantage with 15 minutes remaining, sparking visual emotional discomfort from manager Pep Guardiola.

It was pointed out after the contest during his post-match media duties that Guardiola had accidentally scratched his own nose with a sharp fingernail, leaving him with a cut, whilst his head was also noticeably sore.

Now, according to insight from Enric Armengou, a professor of psychiatry at the Abat CEU University in Barcelona, it is stated that there is “no evidence” to suggest that Guardiola has “lost his mind” in light of recent signs of struggle in post-match interviews.

“What happened with Guardiola speaks of the level of anxiety he has, but it is a specific event in moments of maximum tension,” Armengou told Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness.

He continued, “His behaviour was that of a man who is at his limit and regulated himself by hurting himself. Others might throw their notebook against the bench or kick a bottle. We should not give the matter greater significance because it was a moment of anger, which has no signs, due to the known antecedents, that it is a trend, so it should not be a problem.”

Armengou went on to state, “You cannot blame him for lack of sensitivity with problems of this type, he simply expressed himself with irony. I don’t think we can talk about a problem of that kind (loss of self-control).

“It would be excessive, otherwise we would see him with that behaviour in other areas. He is a man who lives the matches with intensity, but we have no evidence that he has ever lost his mind.”

Guardiola’s concerns and challenges will not get any easier any time soon, and Manchester City travel to Anfield on Sunday afternoon to face the test of perhaps the best side in European football at this present moment.

Arne Slot’s Liverpool come into their meeting with the Premier League champions in a rich vein of form, and having also beaten Real Madrid at home in the Champions League, knowing that victory over City will open up an 11-point gap over Guardiola’s squad.