Manchester City have been told they may have made a ‘massive’ mistake letting one player go in the summer – while another that they brought into the club is in the spotlight for the errors he was guilty of in their humiliating defeat to Tottenham.

Man City shockingly suffered their fifth defeat in a row on Saturday and in dramatic style as Tottenham thrashed them 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium. It is the first time ever that Pep Guardiola has lost five consecutive games in his entire managerial career.

James Maddison scored a brace inside the opening 20 minutes for Tottenham before Pedro Porro made it three after the break and Brennan Johnson completed the rout in stoppage time.

Much has been made recently of City’s record with and without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who is on the sidelines with an ACL injury – but with the form they are in, clearly it is not a singular issue.

And Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has insisted that Julian Alvarez – who was sold in a club-record deal to Atletico Madrid in the summer – has left just as big a void among Guardiola’s options.

“Everyone’s going to talk about Rodri because of the impact that he has. But it isn’t just Rodri,” Redknapp said on Sky‘s post-match coverage.

“You’ve obviously got [Mateo] Kovacic, you’ve got Ruben Dias who’s a leader of men in that back four, he’s the talker, the communicator. They miss him. Kevin de Bruyne’s in and out of the team, not at his best.

“I still think Alvarez is a massive blow to this team, where you can bring him on.

“I honestly think, great money, Alvarez in the summer, but I think it was a huge loss not having him, just to bring him on to give you some freshness.

“The age of the team, nine of the 14 were 29+. I think that there may be a little bit of freshening up.

“Hugo Viana is coming in in the summer. There has to be a bit of a rebuild because you cannot keep relying on Kevin de Bruyne to create chances and win you games and do all the great things that he’s done.

“There has to come a moment where you’ve got to start to look forward and think, OK, how do we make sure we can keep up with these other sides?

“Today they were just overrun and overpowered, certainly in midfield.”

READ MORE: Man City plotting big January approach for shining Crystal Palace star

Man City summer signing heavily criticised

On that note, in addition to making a mistake with one of their sales in the last transfer window, Redknapp hinted that City may have made a mistake with one of their signings too.

Coinciding with his theme of City needing to look forward, an example of them looking back – by bringing Ilkay Gundogan back for a second spell at the club in the summer – hasn’t gone down well.

The 34-year-old started in Rodri’s usual role of defensive midfield but ‘couldn’t get near anybody’ according to the pundit.

“Man City are off it at the moment. They are short. Things aren’t quite clicking,” Redknapp continued.

“In midfield, that balance, Gundogan couldn’t get around the pitch today. He couldn’t get near anybody.

“The focus wasn’t right, the balance wasn’t right with Rico Lewis, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. They didn’t have enough energy to get around.

“Once Tottenham scored, the confidence came. Maddison started to get on the ball, you could see that his tail was up, that’s the sort of player that he is, and he was excellent.

“But the fact that you can’t score a goal against the two centre-backs of Ben Davies and [Radu] Dragusin, that’s the biggest worry because they didn’t have that clinical edge.”

Gundogan was particularly in the firing line for being bypassed too easily for the opening goal.

“What Gundogan does here is really basic. It’s so wrong,” Redknapp said on half-time analysis.

“You can see James Maddison’s going to run. You’ve now got to match that run. John Stones has got a problem here, he’s got [Dominic] Solanke, and when he passes him off it’s too late.

“You can’t afford to do that, just go and match the run.

“I think Gundogan has really struggled in there, he hasn’t been able to deal with the intensity of this match.”

Latest Man City news

Meanwhile, City are reportedly considering bringing Liam Delap back to the club from Ipswich Town thanks to his impressive form for the newly promoted side this season.

As a striker, Delap could perhaps solve some of the issues caused by the failure to replace Alvarez in the summer.

However, he has also caught the attention of Chelsea, so City will have to stay on alert for any developments with their academy graduate.

Elsewhere, they have been named as contenders for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders as their planning without Rodri continues.

However, competition is also high for the Dutchman, who is on the radar of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – with one of those sides tipped to launch an ‘astronomical’ offer.

And Rodri has dropped a worrying hint about his own future and a potential return to La Liga.