Pep Guardiola is trying to snap his Manchester City players out of a mindset he is all too familiar with. Guardiola launched into a stinging attack on his squad after the league win over Tottenham on Thursday. The City boss took shots at just about everyone and was extremely critical of the way the team has defended in recent weeks.
Getting anyone with four Premier League medals and asking them to keep showing the same levels of hunger and desire is a tough one. And while the manager will be doing everything in his power to avoid that feeling and reintegrate them into City life, he admits it has happened to him before as a player.
Pep Guardiola said: “I won four Ligas in Spain when I was a football player and the fifth and the sixth I was not the same. I was not starving enough, thinking about how good I was. Madrid beat me the fifth and the sixth. I understand them but I am there to do it. I want to be here but if I lose the team or lose something I cannot be here. Here, people don’t wait. When I retire or decide my time at Man City is over, people will say how good Pep is but it’s not about that. We are still here. We are second in the table, we are not 25 points behind Arsenal, we are still there. There are 57 points still to play for. But in this way, no chance.”
