How Kyle Walker took his eye off the ball: Inside the muddled mind, £27million divorce battle and niggling injuries that have made Man City's captain a liability, revealed by JACK GAUGHAN
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Pep Guardiola's admission last week that Manchester City are punishing themselves when conspiring to lose most weeks signified a change in message. He is a man who will fiercely defend his players. Stand by them through bewilderingly poor patches of form, stand by them in the face of public scandal. But to hear him openly talk about individual mistakes on the eve of the 2-0 defeat at Juventus offered a change of tack.
![[His struggles on the pitch come amid a £27m divorce battle with his wife Annie Kilner (left)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/16/93200377-14198257-image-a-2_1734366554955.jpg)
A man, like the rest of us, who had run out of all other logical reasons for the malaise. It was six defeats in nine at that point; after Sunday, it’s eight in 11. Over the course of this wretched, tortured run, Guardiola hasn’t blamed individuals, believing that the mistakes are a result of more general deficiencies. Anxiety has seeped in, an uncertainty – plainly evident in the capitulation against Manchester United.
![[Pep Guardiola has put a lot of trust in Walker, but the right back is now becoming a liability]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/16/93200375-14198257-image-a-3_1734366586987.jpg)
Looking at the footage of games since they lost at Bournemouth on November 2, it is reasonable to calculate that 16 errors have contributed to the opposition scoring. The official statistics will not, however, paint such a bleak picture. Those figures will be in single digits, and that brings us to Kyle Walker. The leader of men within this group, voted twice to be given the captain’s armband.
![[Walker has been playing while not 100 per cent fit for the past month]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/16/93200499-14198257-image-a-4_1734366679648.jpg)
Man City captain Kyle Walker has made a number of defensive errors in recent weeks. His struggles on the pitch come amid a £27m divorce battle with his wife Annie Kilner (left). Pep Guardiola has put a lot of trust in Walker, but the right back is now becoming a liability.
![[He has been slow to react to dangerous situations, including for Weston McKennie's goal during City's defeat by Juventus last week]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/16/93200617-14198257-image-m-6_1734366788548.jpg)
