Nothing is going well for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s team remains on 5 defeats and 1 draw in its last 6 matches. Worse still, the scenario of this Tuesday in the Champions League confirmed that the English club was going through a big crisis. While Erling Haaland’s teammates led 3-0 against Feyenoord, they ended up conceding three goals late in the game. After the match, Pep Guardiola appeared with several scratches on his face, which he justified by his frustration with the result.“I did this with my fingernail. I did it myself with my fingers… I want to hurt myself”he explained.
Pep Guardiola is not worried
This Friday, he was back at a press conference to address the clash of the next day of the Premier League against Liverpool. A formidable opponent, who crushes everything in his path, and who therefore arrives at the worst of times. But before that, he did not escape questions about the rather worrying state of form of his team. “Today is the first day we have seen each other since the match. Let’s get back to business. But of course, football is about self-confidence… I don’t know the right word. When the dynamic is good, it’s easier. Accept the situation we have. I have learned in my life to move forward in good times and bad. Let’s prepare well for the match at Anfield and continue. It’s the end of November, there are still many months to play. You have to learn. We can fall again, succeeding means getting back up when we fall. It’s the only way I know.”he tried to explain at first.
But how do you manage to bounce back when you’ve spent almost a decade winning everything or almost everything? The former Barça coach doesn’t really have the solution but he also believes that we shouldn’t worry as his team has already proven things in the past. “The challenge is whether we are strong in difficult times. At the first time, we are not stable. In the past we were leading 3-0 and the match was in our hands. Now, in the first moments, I don’t know how we react. The reasons are obvious, absences, etc. The best place to improve is Anfield. (…) We are second, but the results are not there. We are playing well, but not enough to win matches. I have said it many times, we have to live it as a club and players to give what we have done in the past. We will come back, I know it. I don’t know when. You can judge the situation, when a team controls the PL for many years, it is normal for this to happen. Maybe the exception was in the past and not today – how we get back up is the great success in life.”
City must show character
The Spanish technician also wanted to point out that Manchester City no longer had to prove and that the numerous injuries necessarily handicapped the team. And if the journalists tickled him about his ability to find excuses, Pep Guardiola was rather clear. “When you have nine or ten years at the top, it’s always difficult. I take it as if nothing happened. I think about what I can do to help the players, in a long career you experience situations. We lost five times and drew one, we should have won, yes. It happens, you shouldn’t think too much about the situation. Go to the principles, if you live them, accept them. No reproaches, no evasion of responsibility. That’s what I want. Here as a club you have to win, if you don’t win you are in trouble, what we have done for the last eight years, I have people counting on me to do it. It’s not normal in big clubs to do what we did. I want to stay, as soon as I am no longer positive, I will leave. But I want to have the opportunity to rebuild the team in many aspects until the end of the season. I ask for this challenge, the opportunity to do it. I feel it”he said before continuing.
“I know what we have to do, knowing that at the moment we lack consistency. Which team is consistent in ten years – not even in the NBA, tennis or golf. In almost ten years, we have not found consistency. It’s not pleasant to live with, but what can you expect? Everything is easy and everything unfolds like on a red carpet? It proves what we are as athletes. With 10 or 12 matches in a row, everyone is in good shape, everything is fine. It’s easy. I need to show off now. Rodri is not an excuse? Do I cry all the time? Or the central defenders who are not there? I have to find a solution. I try every day. (…) In nine years, we have conceded few goals. To win titles, you shouldn’t give up chances? How many chances did Feyenoord have? Three ? How many chances against Spurs? A lot, but we didn’t score. Things change with the return of the players. This is clear. His team is now expected this Sunday in the clash against Liverpool. And we will have to pull out all the stops to achieve a result against probably the best team in Europe at the moment.
