Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola expects Manchester City to be in contention for titles despite their recent challenges with injuries and defeats. Manchester City recently faced difficulties, including being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Tottenham and suffering their first Premier League defeat of the season to Bournemouth. Key players like Kyle Walker, Manu Akanji, and Nathan Ake have been dealing with fitness issues.
Pep Guardiola said “I know our standards. We lost one game in the Premier League. Maybe we will lose against Brighton and Tottenham, but we lost one game and we are two points behind a top-class team in Liverpool.”
Despite high expectations for City, Guardiola acknowledges the impact of injuries on their performance. He emphasizes the need for everything to align perfectly to win major titles such as The Treble.
Pep Guardiola said “We have done decently in the Champions League, I would say. I understand. I know people expect us to win 38 games 5-0 and win The Treble every season because this is our standards, but this will not happen. It’s more difficult because we have a lot of absences because sometimes there are seasons where it happens. To win The Treble, everything has to be on the same page: no injuries, good momentum, opponents drop points at important moments.”
Guardiola highlights the raised level of competition in the Premier League and the challenges City faces, acknowledging more competitive mid-table teams.
Pep Guardiola said “This is not possible because Oscar [Bobb] was the best player in pre-season and we miss him a lot, Jack [Grealish] is still not fit, and Rodri, the best player in the world, is not here for the rest of the season. We know that we are going to struggle and that is the point. Accept that we are going to struggle and it is fine. Every game will be more difficult than when everything was smooth so it’s not a situation that is always the same; we won six Premier Leagues in seven years and situations change. City have only really run away with the game against Ipswich in this campaign, but the manager insists they have still performed well. The middle class in the Premier League has risen unbelievably. The top-class teams were always there: City, Arsenal, Liverpool, United – add Newcastle and Tottenham in recent years. But after you see Fulham, Brentford, most of the teams. We have suffered against Wolves and Southampton.”
Guardiola remains optimistic about City’s ability to compete in the coming months and acknowledges areas for improvement while crediting opponents for deserved victories.
Pep Guardiola said “The teams that were 8th, 10th, 11th, they are really good strong teams so every team is more difficult but this is the challenge. Maintain there, be there, and at the end, we will see if we can arrive in the last months with the chances to fight for the titles. The players know it because they feel it in the last month or two the quality of the team. That’s why I’m really impressed and really happy that we are still there. Bournemouth deserved to win by far. They were better on the day. “That doesn’t mean we are bad, we are not going to fight for the titles. When you lose sometimes, the opponents can be better. Tomorrow we have to improve on the next.”
