Sunday 20 March 2016 19:50, UK
Manchester City's ageing squad may need a bigger overhaul than Pep Guardiola initially thought, admits Jamie Carragher.
City's 1-0 defeat to United in the Manchester derby on Super Sunday means they are now 14 points off Premier League leaders Leicester, and are now in a battle to keep their hold on fourth place.
Guardiola will replace current manager Manuel Pellegrini in the summer, a move which was announced in early February, but Sky Sports pundit Carragher says he may need to bring in seven or eight new players.
He said on Super Sunday: "This is a team who even last season we talked about as being a great team, with four or five world class players, who were just coming over the hill.
"The first four or five games it looked like they'd proved me wrong, I thought they'd go on and win the league.
"They have the oldest squad in the Premier League behind West Brom, now West Brom don't play don't play two games a week, they play once.
"This team haven't got it in them, although they are great players you can see they haven't got the legs, the energy in them now to keep going in all competitions throughout a season.
"This has been coming since last season, not just since Pep Guardiola was announced.
"Pep Guardiola will be watching that today. I think he would have been thinking initially he needs three or four players. I think they might need seven or eight.
"You may think I'm going too far with that now, but it's the age of the squad.
"The money they've spent, and how they can have an age profile like that, is probably mismanagement, perhaps from above Manuel Pellegrini.
"The world class players they have now don't need replacing, but they need a lot more help."
Marcus Rashford's early goal gave United all three points at the Etihad Stadium, meaning City have now won just two of their seven league games since Guardiola's move was confirmed.
Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness believes that while City were in a tough situation as to whether to announce the Guardiola move, the timing has affected the club's form.
"I think [Pellegrini's] frustrated in the bigger picture. He has tried to be really professional with what he has said, how he has acted, but deep down he will be hurt by being shown the door here.
"There's not a shadow of a doubt that it has impacted on their form. They have played seven, lost four, won two, and the two they've won were against Aston Villa and Sunderland.
"So don't tell me his announcement that he is going has not affected the football club.
"But City were put in a very difficult place. If they hadn't announced Pep Guardiola he could have been chased by somebody else."
Former City striker Niall Quinn agreed with Carragher's assessment that the squad needs an overhaul, setting up what could be a busy summer in Manchester.
"I'm not so sure Guardiola will have been watching that today thinking that he's got eight or so players out of that team that he could do a great job with. I think he'll look for more than that."
