Pep Guardiola has been playing the sympathy card over the past week, forgetting that .

Considering the standards they’ve set under the former Barcelona boss, it’s been a quite remarkable few days for City. Three consecutive defeats is practically unheard of under reign, but it does seem as though the wheels are wobbling somewhat at the Etihad.

Having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Tottenham – which has proven to be a constant thorn in Guardiola’s side since joining City – defeat to Bournemouth enabled to regain top spot in the Premier League, before Sporting CP gave City a serious lesson with a 4-1 reverse in the .

So what’s the problem? Why have City suddenly hit a major – for them at least – slump? Well, according to Guardiola, it's injuries.

“We have 13 players [available] so we are in real difficulty,” Guardiola said at the weekend.

“The guys that play, they finish most of them with problems and we’ll see how they recover.

“I think when we are in trouble, like we are because in nine years it never happen this situation with many, many injuries for many, many reasons, in these situations, the players they make a step forward and they are more together than ever and they will try to do this week in this short time to recover.”

There’s no doubt injuries are affecting City at the moment, but it does feel like the issue is being overegged by Guardiola. After all, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jeremy Doku all came off the bench in Lisbon, while Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker were also named among the substitutes.

The rest of the bench was made up with less familiar names as Guardiola had to turn to his academy options, including starting 19-year-old Jahmai Simpson-Pusey. "We are using them because we are in an emergency in certain positions," Guardiola explained.

Forgive us if we don’t share too much empathy toward City’s plight. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Liverpool was relying on its youngsters at Wembley – would have loved to have been able to call upon De Bruyne, Gundogan and Doku against Chelsea back in February.

And more to the point, Guardiola hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with sympathy when the Reds have found themselves in this sort of position. Cast your mind back to the dreaded 2020/21 season, when Klopp’s defense was well and truly decimated by injury.

Back then, the German was having to resort to using the likes of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho at center-back before entrusting Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams. They would of course help rescue a Champions League spot for the Reds, but not without some sniping from City’s boss.

Speaking ahead of meeting Liverpool at Anfield that season, with , and long out of the picture, Guardiola said: “I say to my players when you complain and look for excuses you cannot move forward.

“Excuses is the worst thing in the world and in sport. Sometimes it is difficult for managers to finish games and five minutes later, give opinions about decisions into the microphone.”

So, no excuses, eh Pep? After all, a team that can let the $58m (£45m/€54m) Kalvin Phillips head out on loan not once but twice this year must be flush with some incredible talent behind the scenes.

Liverpool fans won’t give Guardiola’s excuses much notice, and nor should they. In fact, the more we hear them, the better it is for the Reds.