Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he blames himself for the club’s dismal form.
City, who have won the Premier League title in the last four years and in six of the last seven, are 14 points behind leaders Liverpool.
The 2-0 win at Leicester on Sunday was only their second win in 14 games.
It is the worst streak of a highly successful managerial career that includes spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
“There are many, many things [involved in being a manager] And I missed something, something that I’m not doing well,” said Guardiola, who has been at the club for nine seasons.
“In the end, when you lose a lot of games, it is an incredible responsibility for the coach. There is something that the team needs and confidence and I couldn’t do it.
“The call is for me first, not for the players. Naturally, they go down a little and that’s normal. It also happened a little last season.”
City have had slow starts in previous seasons, and have been six points or more behind the leaders in each of the last four title-winning campaigns, but they have never been this bad.
“With this consistency [of results] “I should have found it and that’s why we are in this position,” Guardiola said.
“I blame [myself]. It’s not to say ‘oh, how cute Pep is’, it’s the truth. I lead that group of players and I couldn’t lift them up. This is reality.”
City have suffered many injuries this season, including that of Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri, who Guardiola has repeatedly highlighted.
“We were the only undefeated team in Europe [until 30 October] and first in the league, but we immediately went down due to injuries, we have talked about many things,” he said.
“But even with that, I should have found a way to get better results.”
The champions host West Ham at 15:00 GMT on Saturday.
