Manchester City have fallen way below their usual standards during what has been a dismal season, and now Pep Guardiola is on the same page as his old foe Jose Mourinho
Pep Guardiola says qualifying for the Champions League will be one of his most satisfying feats at Manchester City – because of the problems they have faced this season.
City have played for most of the season without Ballon d'Or winner Rodri and have endured a series of injuries to key players – with goal machine Erling Haaland the latest to be sidelined. Against that backdrop, Guardiola said people have been proved wrong for taking for granted the fact City will qualify for the Champions League every season.
Jose Mourinho claimed finishing second to City in 2018 – when he was at Manchester United – was one of his greatest managerial achievements, given the disparity between the two sides.
Guardiola may have won the Double and Treble at City, but the 54-year-old said qualifying for the Champions League – the 15th year in a row for the Blues - would be another major milestone for him.
“Getting to the Champions League next season will be an incredible success, just for the fact of being there, for the problems that we've had,” said Guardiola. “I understand when Jose said this quote. For the club, for next season, we want to play in the Champions League.
“I said this before, a thousand million times, that people take for granted that City are going to be in the Champions League every season. I know how difficult it is. Otherwise, all the important teams would be in the Champions League every season, but it didn't happen like that.
“We're the only one in the last, I don't know how many years, who have been there. This kind of thing I give a lot of importance to, because it's the consistency I've always been looking for as a manager."
City, who host Leicester on Wednesday, are fifth in the Premier League, with just four points separating them from 10th-placed Bournemouth, in a congested battle for the coveted Champions League spots.
Reflecting on City's season, which has been sabotaged by injuries, Guardiola said: “It wasn't possible to do it in the Premier League this season and this is the worst Champions League campaign we've done since I've been here.
“But look at the FA Cup - seven semi-finals in a row. The people say 'Yeah, but you play teams in the Championship and in League One'.
“Maybe we won't win the FA Cup, but we've been there. In the Premier League, we've not been there, in the Champions League, we've not been there. But in the FA Cup, we've been there.
“This season has been so weird, so difficult. First of all, we didn't have the players. That's the main reason. After that, there are a lot of other factors, but especially this one.
“You can't compete in all of the competitions when you don't have the players. The Treble? We couldn't win the Treble without all the players. The Double? We couldn't win the Double without the players.
“And this season it happened. We had to play a lot without them now we're in the last moments [of the season] and we'll be good.
“We have nine games, nine finals, and we're going to try next season to be in the Champions League.”
Cipdekprz
31
It’s not about having every player available this season—I get that. But the team’s tuning was off, big time. They were sluggish, fitness levels seemed dismal, passes were downright sloppy, and the manager’s strategies just crumbled. If this “great” manager only has one plan for every game, that’s a problem. Other managers clearly saw through his tactics, and he had no response—no Plan B, no Plan C, nothing. In soccer, you need adaptability. Relying on a single strategy, especially if it’s predictable, is a recipe for failure.
malablata
21
When we told people that Mou is far better than Guardiola, they run to argue out of ignorance. Mou always take a messy team, make it better and others come in and win with it, while Guardiola always take a team built by others, win with it and then make it worse. Just look at all the teams they had managed, how things were before they inherited those teams, how they left those teams, and the progress of those teams after they left.
putimopruy
9
It’s not about having every player available this season—I get that. But the team’s tuning was off, big time. They were sluggish, fitness levels seemed dismal, passes were downright sloppy, and the manager’s strategies just crumbled. If this “great” manager only has one plan for every game, that’s a problem. Other managers clearly saw through his tactics, and he had no response—no Plan B, no Plan C, nothing. In soccer, you need adaptability. Relying on a single strategy, especially if it’s predictable, is a recipe for failure.
OK but how many manager with plan, plan C and plan D is more successful than Pep that you say only has one plan? Tell me what is there to win in club football that Pep is yet to win, Pep have won 4 epl in a roll in 6 seasons with same tactics, so if that plan has a momentary setback should not be reason to castigate Pep, why does it take all epl teams 7 seasons to master Pep tactics when Pep have used same tactics to dominate, subdued, conquered and terrorized epl for 7 seasons?
KehindeSeun
8
It’s not about having every player available this season—I get that. But the team’s tuning was off, big time. They were sluggish, fitness levels seemed dismal, passes were downright sloppy, and the manager’s strategies just crumbled. If this “great” manager only has one plan for every game, that’s a problem. Other managers clearly saw through his tactics, and he had no response—no Plan B, no Plan C, nothing. In soccer, you need adaptability. Relying on a single strategy, especially if it’s predictable, is a recipe for failure.
And if you think pep only have plan A or you think he as not try or switch to another plan it means you don't understand how football works