Manchester City keeper Joe Hart has absolved manager Manuel Pellegrini of blame, after a poor run has taken them from title contenders to struggling to hold down a place in the Premier League’s top four.
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Last week’s defeat in the Manchester derby meant that the champions have won just twice in their last eight games – during which time they were eliminated from the Champions League – and have slipped to fourth in the table, just four points clear of Liverpool in fifth.
In the wake of the loss at Old Trafford, The Guardian suggested that the club hierarchy could sack Pellegrini before the end of the season. But the England international believes that the finger of blame should be pointed at the players rather than the Chilean, according to the Daily Mirror.
“People have been disappointed in their own performances, we’ve let the manager down a few times in certain games and we’ve baffled ourselves a little bit because we feel like we’ve got the quality to beat anyone and that’s not been the case,” he explained.
In fact, not only has the 27-year-old suggested that Pellegrini is not responsible for their poor end to the season, but he has praised the former Real Madrid manager, and how he has handled the difficult situation.
“He’s hard, he kind of says it how it is, and you can’t ask for much more than that from a manager,” he added.