Fernandinho reveals the turning point of Manchester City's season

Manchester City captain Fernandinho has revealed the moment Pep Guardiola approached him in order to turn the team's faltering 2020/21 Premier League season around.

The Citizens were eighth in the table at the turn of the year, and although they had only lost twice - a comprehensive home defeat to Leicester and another loss to Jose Mourinho's Tottenham - heading into 2021, they were performing far below their usual high standards.

But a remarkable run of form, kicked off by an entertaining 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, saw City win 15 games in a row, has seen Guardiola's side charge to the top of the table, and they're now odds-on to secure a third Premier League title under the Spaniard and fifth overall.

Writing in The Players' Tribune, Fernandinho, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest holding midfielders in Premier League history, has detailed a conversation he had with Guardiola after a training session on New Year's Eve, where he was challenged about City's players not putting in maximum effort.

"It was not a good session. The attitude, the body language, the effort from some players, it was just obvious.

"You know exactly the kind of session I’m talking about, right? Misplaced passes, players not tracking back, not running, not looking interested. This was not us. This was not the team that had won two titles in a row, or that had set a record points total. 

"After that session, Pep came and spoke to me as captain, as the leader of the team. He was blunt. He told me that not everyone was at 100%. And, in this team, when you come to train, you do it at 100%, or you stay home. Once you enter the pitch, there is no conversation, no negotiation. 

"He was right. And he made it clear that the responsibility for keeping those standards rested with me."

The 35-year-old Brazilian went on to explain how he couldn't stop thinking about what Guardiola had said when he got home, leading to a frank and honest conversation with his teammates about changing their mentality and improving their slipping standards.

"After that session, I went home to be with my family for the celebrations, but I couldn’t get that conversation with Pep out of my head, you know? Even on New Year’s Eve watching fireworks with my family I was thinking about my duty as captain to Manchester City.

"The next day, at 7 a.m. on January 1, 2021, I sent a message to our team manager and told him, “Set up a meeting with the players. We need to talk.” I arrived at the ground in the morning ahead of training, and I said, “Tell Pep we’ll start training a little later today.” It was an emergency.

"Once we got everyone together, I spoke openly to them. I spoke as captain, you know? I told them what Pep had told me, that some things are inexcusable. I told them that what you do in training reflects back at you later on in the game.

"It was very frank, very honest. After me, all the others spoke their minds too. Everyone already knew we needed to change, but we needed to hear it said. We needed to be shaken. And it was important that we talked. 

"We were still at a point in the campaign where we could turn things around. Or we could passively watch it slide away. Our next game was away at Chelsea, who were flying in the league at the time. Before the match, I thought to myself, “If these guys don’t run here, that’s it, I’m done!” I was ready to lose all morale.

"But, of course, we won. We won well. By halftime we were 3–0 up. We ran almost too much! Thank God, since then we’ve been on an amazing, record-breaking run."