The former Manchester United defender said Pep Guardiola’s side will be eager to bounce back in the derby.

Rio Ferdinand has claimed the Manchester derby is the perfect game for Manchester City to play next amid the team’s incredible downturn in form.

City’s 2-0 loss at Juventus on Wednesday means they have now won just one of the last 10 in all competitions, a run that has seen them drop well behind the pace setters in the Premier League, blow any real chance of gaining automatic Champions League qualification and were also eliminated from the Carabao Cup.

This, from a group who have won the last four Premier League titles and were treble winners just 18 months ago, beggars belief. But Wednesday’s underwhelming performance laid bare once again the deficiencies in the team, with Juve scoring two soft goals and City struggling to create many meaningful chances at the other end.

“It feels like there’s a bit of a broken mentality in that group,” was the blunt assessment offered by Ferdinand during TNT Sports’ post-match coverage.

“From being a team that are built with players who, if they make mistakes, it’s quickly forgotten. That’s one of the hallmarks of Pep and his great players. They’ve had a lot of them over the years. But they’re making mistakes now and there’s a hangover for the next three or four phases of play. That’s when big mistakes happen.

“They conceded a goal [against Juventus] and capitulated and you think there is going to be another one at any point. That’s a big problem and there seems to be a confusion with how to act and what to do.

“You can’t be as successful as they’ve been without being able to get this on track,” he added. “You can’t be that far ahead of everyone else and to be caught up and almost in everyone’s slip stream now. That can’t be right.”

The result leaves City 22nd in the Champions League table, just a point ahead of the elimination spots. But the Blues can forget about Europe for another six weeks and, for now, focus fully on domestic matters. Next up is a clash with another out-of-form side: Manchester United.

“They [City] couldn’t ask for a better game than the one that’s coming up at the weekend, the Manchester derby,” claimed Ferdinand. “If they want to get themselves back on track… it [a win] won’t rebuild every bit of confidence and won’t paper over all the cracks, but it will go a long way to reinvigorating this squad if they were to get a result.”

Ferdinand joked it would be a ‘battle of no confidence’ at the Etihad, with the Red Devils losing the last two matches and currently sitting 13th in the table.