Manchester City, 5th first league after 24 days, performs an exercise far from its usual standards. At a press conference, on the eve of Newcastle's reception this Saturday, Pep Guardiola drawn up a lucid observation on the situation of his group. He first wanted to recall the indelible footprint left by the Citizen club in recent seasons.
“We broke all the records in England. Who would score 100 points today in modern football? I'm waiting. Or four in a row? I'm waiting for – with clubs like Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves, you have to play. It was we who set the standards. Have you seen Liverpool this season? They cannot yet score 100 points – 99 but not 100. ”
Injuries and fatigue in question
The Spanish technician, however, recognized that the level of competition had increased sharply. An opinion shared by Ilkay Gundogan, returned last summer after a season at Barça. “I asked Gundo yesterday: 'Two years ago, you were here, you were a year in Barcelona and you come back here, did you see changes in the Premier League?'. He massively said that the difference was incredible. It's the truth. The teams are good, well, much better in all departments. People prepare so well ”, he said.
Guardiola also pointed out the internal difficulties explaining the decline in his team. “We cannot do it because of the injury problems we had. There are many players, with the number of minutes they have played, who are very tired, emotionally too. But guys, we deserve to have a bad season. We deserve not to be as we were. These are human beings, it can happen. We were not regular and we did not have the players at their best ”he explained.
