In the 16th round of the Premier League, Manchester City played away against Luton. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola attended the pre-match press conference, talking about the team's four-game winless streak and talking about the pressure to win the title.
I'm sorry, I'm confident in myself. I'm going to help the team, I don't know in what way, but I'm going to help the team get back to where we are and the players definitely have the ability to do that. But is that enough?I don't know, because the competitors are too strong.
Arsenal's consistent form over the last two years has been amazing, Liverpool are back and I know from day one of the new season for a lot of reasons, their personalities are still there, but also because their manager is Jurgen Klopp. We see that every team is very ......Looking at the result, Aston Villa were much better than us, they could have lost to Bournemouth, but they drew in the 91st or 92nd minute and that's the Premier League.
Look at Tottenham, they lost at home to West Ham and a lot is going to happen. That's why we have to be ready, you have to have a feeling and I want my team to feel that and if we can win at Luton, people have to be very happy and realise how difficult it is. So the next FA Cup, if we can win Huddersfield Town in January, you have to celebrate.
I feel it, I said it before, I need this. I've won a lot of accolades, both individually and as a team. I needed to take a step back and realize, "Oh, Pep, please, wake up!".Something went wrong, so take a good look at it with your players and see what's going on and why we're winless in four games and we're even worse than we are now. “
As a coach, this is a good warning for me. If I can't get a good result, the club will decide what they do. Here, you have to have a good record. But it never occurred to me that in my coaching career, every eight seasons here, every season was extraordinary, perfect, winning all the games, winning the treble. I've said many times that what we're doing is the exception, and everyone has to be aware of that.
In this industry, the competition is very fierce, so it's hard. That's why the Premier League is the best league in the world, look at the new agreement that Sky Sports has signed with the Premier League, see how much money the club can make, and then the club spends the money on good players and it gets better and better every season, that's why the Premier League is so fascinating and that's why we're here!But it still depends on the result of the game and if you don't get a good result, you have to reflect on what happened, with the players, with the coaching staff.
But then again, apart from the League Cup, we still haven't lost trophies in any other competition, we've already won one title this season (UEFA Super Cup) and we're going to fight for another title (Club World Cup) right away. Six or seven points behind the team in front, well, you have to start worrying, but it's not the end of the world. That's why we need to keep a positive mindset and embrace challenges like this.
They've had injuries in the last few weeks and that's not a problem. They played very well, Kovacic played really well in the first six or seven games, very, very good. Nunez's impact in the first few games has been incredible, they are all important players for us and I'm sure of that, but of course we have to help the players and the players have to give us opportunities.
When we lose games, people tend to question our hunger, or consistency, or complacency, and I don't believe it for a second. As a coach, I lost a game and then I said, "Ah, you don't run!".You don't go to fight!You are complacent!You don't have a personality!"It's too simple to put it down to that, there are many other reasons for losing. I've said it many times and I've never found a player on the pitch who doesn't want to do well, doesn't want to run, or doesn't want to fight, doesn't want to play an active role for the team. Never, I've never had a player like this, no player wants to perform badly in front of 60,000 fans.
We have to have the right body language, get the right training, get the right information, make the right choices, stick to the right way of playing, I'm the manager, I have to help the players, they need me, that's why it's a challenge for me and I need it too. Maybe it's the complacency of the coach rather than the players?Why is it impossible?Maybe the one who relaxes is the coach, not the player. Why not?So I'm going to have to respond myself. When I had a four-round winless run, which had never happened before, it showed that I was doing something wrong, I don't know what it was, but I was definitely doing something wrong.
Jurgen Klopp knows that in just two or three weeks, that can happen to us [without a win in four rounds] and he knows that. Manchester City could have had a bad time, Liverpool had a bad time last season, but the Liverpool mentality was there. He knew it could happen because the same thing had happened.
I never believed in compliments and never overly worried about bad situations. We've been favourites for years, we've been prime candidates to win everything, and we've done it. When we went out in the semi-finals of the Champions League, people still thought it was a disaster and that's our level.
What they demanded of us, they didn't impose on other teams, friends, not at all!If we can't win the Premier League, the only team that is seen as a defeat is us. What about the rest?For any team, winning the championship once is a huge success. Finally, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, they didn't win everything'Man City should win, that's normal!It's so unfair, it's too hard to deal with, isn't it?Respond weekly, every three days, year after year.
The other teams are doing very well at the moment and it's normal that we're in the position we are, my friends. In sports, you have a period, a season that can be like this, and that's something that can happen. Look at our rivals, who have only won once in the last few years and it's important to be at the top of the table.
The reality is that after we win these trophies, sometimes it's not easy to deal with because we've had some problems, important players are injured and new players are coming. I want Gundogan to stay here, I want Mahrez to stay here, but they want to leave!Maybe it's to take on a new challenge in life, or to think about family, but thank you so much, because without you, none of this would have happened, impossible, impossible.
But wouldn't that be the case that Klopp said?Of course it can happen, we can lose the game, we may not win the Premier League and other competitions. But [commentators] please don't talk about stability or complacency, don't criticize the players for being lax, criticize them for being arrogant, it's not like that, we're being honest.