Gary Neville tells Man City how not to react to losing run - using Manchester United example

The temptation for Manchester City would be to open the chequebook and spend their way out of trouble.

Fans are asking whether a more specialist 'Plan B' for Rodri is required as the Ballon d'Or winner is out for the season and City still haven't perfected a way to play without him. Kevin De Bruyne isn't getting any younger or fitter, and City don't have a second striker to ease the load on Erling Haaland.

There are grumbles from the stands over Kyle Walker's form, exacerbated by another footrace lost against Tottenham, and the captain is another north of 30.

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But pundit and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has cautioned against a reactionary overhaul in the transfer window to get out of trouble.

Posting on LinkedIn, Neville drew on his own experience from his time at Old Trafford and in business to warn City that a 'complete rebuild' wouldn't improve anything in the short term.

He wrote: "Three things are happening: They look like they’ve grown a little old together, they’ve run too many marathons which eventually takes its toll physically, [and] number 1 and 2 combined can then lead to the head being muddy and mentally you just feel drained.

"It happened a couple of times to United in my career. Thankfully I came through the other side of it as part of the mini rebuild/transition that needed to occur.

"All eyes will be on Pep [Guardiola] and what he does to arrest this immediate decline in results. The obvious is to look at the transfer windows coming up. However the reason I used the word mini in front of the word rebuild and the softer word transition is that, in my experience of what happened at United over 20 years, there was never a complete reconstruction required once the club started winning the league and there isn’t here now with City.

"It very rarely works in any business or sports team that a complete rebuild brings immediate success. It’s also not required here at City. You’re talking about 1-2 max in Jan (if any) and 3-4 in and out next summer. If they get it right it will take them well ahead again."

Guardiola has suggested that City won't add to the squad in January, pointing to the number of injured players who should be back fit to result in an almost-full squad again. He has insisted on multiple occasions that he is happy with the depth of his squad, and that the injury crisis this season has been unprecedented.

City rarely make big moves in January as they don't believe the winter market represents good value, so they are likely to restrain from any major changes to the squad.

And Neville says that is the mentality that helped United achieve sustained dominance under Sir Alex Ferguson. "I’m sure they will just trust the system, the players and the way he works and won’t panic," he continued.

"Even at United when we didn’t win the league for one or two seasons, the process didn’t change of how we worked. Slight adaptations yes but never a complete overhaul. The reason Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager of all time in the Premier League is down to the fact he built four different teams whilst carrying on winning.

"Pep has built two already (this current one being his second City team. The first being Kompany, De Bruyne, David Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Fernandinho etc). He now, with his contract extension, has elected to build his third team. There’s no reason to suggest he can’t with his record of excellence. He’s also likely to do it carefully without fuss, panic and great disruption to the foundations of what he’s built already.

"The question is whether he and this great team, who have won a treble, can somehow dig beyond deep and win 5 in a row when they look the most beaten as a group they ever have."