Pep Guardiola's side suffered a bitter fifth consecutive defeat across all competitions when Tottenham Hotspur put four past them without response at the Etihad on Saturday evening.
City remain five points behind Liverpool in the standings, but that could rise to eight if the Merseyside outfit pick up a win away at Southampton on Sunday. Guardiola's side must first navigate their Champions League tie against Feyenoord midweek, but Walker has vowed next week's clash at Anfield is the perfect time to inflict a devastating blow on their rivals and put themselves back in title contention.
Rodri's absence and growing fitness concerns throughout the squad has played a significant role in City's struggles in recent weeks. However, it is not the only problem currently blighting City's form.
Here, the Manchester Evening News has taken a look at everything that's been said in the fallout following Saturday's defeat:
Pep Guardiola
City manager Guardiola congratulated Tottenham following the defeat, but admitted his players are currently 'playing a little bit in our thoughts'.
"When you lose 0-4 there is nothing to say, it’s congratulate Tottenham," Guardiola said.
"We struggled a little bit to get the balls back. We are not able to win it or the extra action afterwards but (on the ball) we were quite decent.
"We created a lot, and we created a lot of chances in front of the keeper. We are a bit fragile right now, that is obvious. We struggled to score goals and after, when they arrived, they scored.
"We are playing a little bit in our thoughts, a little bit of negativity but this is normal.
"Football is a sense of mood and when you win a lot it gives you self-awareness you can do it and when you lose three games in a row in the Premier League that situation is there. Many things are going to happen.
"We have to break the results because the victories help us to be more positive and confident and we have to do it.
"But after eight years here I knew sooner or later we would drop.
"I never expected to lose three Premier League games in a row, but we have been incredibly consistent again and again and again and now we cannot deny the reality that sometimes happens in football and life is here.
"We have to do everything to change, especially for the next one, but the exceptionality we lived in eight years is not eternal. Sometimes you drop a little bit."
The City boss also challenged his players to accept the reality following their recent slump and bounce back in the title race.
"I would say when you lose three games in a row it is the most wrong thing to say that you will be champions," Guardiola added.
"I know the guys, I know they will be back and if I’m going to doubt about them it is something wrong about me.
"Maybe I will not be good enough to get back in those situations, and we will see, but I’ve been a football player.
"What we have done in the past is exceptional but losing three Premier League games in a row can happen. It happened to me with Barcelona in LaLiga.
"Now everything is a little bit against – when you feel confident the results are good, but now it is the opposite. We have to break it quick and accept it.
"The best way to go through the position is accept the reality. It’s not about me, you, the weather or the grass, we have to start to winning games.
"Now you realise how difficult what we have done is. You can be worse but when you said to me when you win 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 games in a row you’re going to win before the game, I don’t know.
"Now we recover and on Tuesday we have to be here again and hopefully we will change the dynamic."
Kyle Walker
Kyle Walker has warned Manchester City's title rivals they are determined to turn things around ahead of next weekend's crucial Premier League clash against Liverpool.
"It [a trip to Liverpool] is a great game to turn it around, to take three points off a team that's sat above you," Walker told Sky Sports. "But we can't go out and do a performance like that, because we're going to get walked over, so that's down to each and every one of us at the club, from now until next Sunday.
"We've a game midweek in the Champions League [against Feyenoord] to prepare for this massive game on Sunday and make sure we can keep within touching distance of Liverpool."
The defender continued: "We've lost confidence as a team because we haven't won in a while. What we've won in the past counts for nothing, and what it's about is winning the Premier League now, and we're making it harder for ourselves because we've got teams around us and one team that's above us that's doing really well.
"We'll keep fighting to turn this around, and hopefully the mojo comes back and you see the normal City that you have done in the last eight seasons."
Gary Neville
"We've seen City lose the odd game here, but we've very rarely seen them outplayed in every department, but that's what we're watching," Neville said.
"They look well short. As short as I've seen them since Pep's first season. I've not seen them as bad as this, how they've been in the last few weeks."
The Sky Sports pundit added that 'the vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see' for City.
Neville added: "He will have wanted that international break to come, thinking it would be a reset moment. But now here, it further entrenches the opinion this is a City side currently in decline.
"It seems madness, when you think about what they've achieved. They're easy to play against and teams are encouraged when playing them. The vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see."
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the former defender added: "When you're on the decline - and I hate to use the word decline, but it does feel like it - it's a group of players with a number of things [going wrong].
"The idea of growing slightly old together, the idea of playing the volume of games together, the physical and mental demands of that, and the third thing is how many times you can keep going.
"I played for a manager and a club who kept going, but there were times when you just fall over. You've won the league three times on the bounce, twice, you've done doubles, you've won trebles, and you just can't go any further.
"Your shoulders just drop a bit, and it looks like that's the kind of thing that's happened here.
"It's a group of players who have run a million miles. They've been sensational. But they've become a little bit punch-drunk. Leggy, lacking in energy, they've lost players and a couple of vital players out through injury.
"It's a big game next week, Liverpool vs City, and there's only a few points in it, there's a long way to go, but it feels like today, if Man City were to win the title this season, I think it would be Pep's greatest Premier League."
Jamie Redknapp
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp argued that City's lack of 'clinical edge' should be the 'biggest worry' for Guardiola. He said: "You've got [Mateo] Kovacic, Ruben Dias who's a leader of men in the back four. Kevin De Bruyne's in and out of the team. Losing [Julian] Alvarez is a massive blow, when you can bring him on.
"They're off it, they're short. Things aren't quite clicking; [Ilkay] Gundogan couldn't get near anybody, the focus and balance wasn't right with Rico Lewis, Bernardo Silva and they didn't have enough energy to get around them.
"Once Tottenham scored, the confidence came. James Maddison started to get on the ball. You could see his tail was up, that's the sort of player he is.
"The fact you can't score a goal against the two centre-backs of Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin, that's the biggest worry - they didn't have that clinical edge."
