Pep Guardiola says he won’t “run away” from Manchester City and wants the opportunity to “rebuild the team in many aspects”.
City head to Liverpool on Sunday mired in a miserable run of form that lurched to another low on Tuesday night when they squandered a 3-0 lead with 16 minutes to go to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord.
That result came after five successive defeats in all competitions, including three in the Premier League that have enabled Liverpool to open up an eight-point advantage at the top of the table.
Guardiola, who signed a two-year contract extension earlier this month, accepts that City’s eight-year period of success was unsustainable but insists he is desperate to take on the challenge of rebuilding the squad in the short and medium term.
PEP 💬 It’s the end of November so many months to play, we have to learn and learn and learn. Succeeding is how many times you stand up when you fall. pic.twitter.com/FnOr35dsjG
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 29, 2024
He said: “Here as a club you have to win. If you don’t win you are in trouble. What we have done the last eight years…I have people in the hierarchy who rely on me to do it.
“It isn’t normal in the big clubs to do what we’ve done.
“It’s for sure, I want to stay. I want to do it. But the moment I feel I’m not positive for the club, another manager will come.
“But I want the opportunity to try it, I don’t want to run away, I want to be there, I want to rebuild the team in many aspects, from now until the end of the season, the next seasons, to try to continue.
“I asked for that challenge, I asked for this opportunity, because I feel it, I know what I want to do, I know what we need, I know what we have to do, knowing that in that moment our consistency that we had, obviously we don’t have it right now.
“But which team around the world is consistent during 10 years?! Tell me one. They don’t exist; not in NBA, not in tennis, not in any sport, not even in golf. In a decade of time, like we have been, being consistent like we have been, you don’t find it, I’m sorry…”
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Guardiola looking for solutions
A lengthy injury list – that includes Ballon d’Or winner Rodri – has contributed to City’s woe over the past few weeks but Guardiola insists he is doing his utmost to find a team capable of getting their season back on track.
“With 10,12 games in a row, everyone fit and in their prime, everything going well. It’s easy,” he added.
“I have to put myself now. Rodri is not an excuse. I cry all the time? Or the centre-backs not there for the last month? I have to find a solution. To find a way. I have to prove myself now. I’m trying every day.
“The squad is really good but we don’t have a squad. It’s not just Rodri, it’s many players. We need to rebuild, yeah. We don’t have players. We play six weeks without four centre-backs and two holding midfielders. It’s not sustainable.”
Short-term focus
A defeat on Sunday would leave City 11 points behind Arne Slot’s Liverpool but Guardiola is not focusing on the title right now.
He said: “In our situation it’s not realistic to think about big targets. It’s about giving good momentum for one game. That will come back.
“Even before in December it’s not been realistic to win the title but we recovered. Liverpool are in good form and are so powerful in all departments especially in both boxes. But in the situation we’re in having lots of games in a row. It doesn’t matter what happens on Sunday, it will be more difficult if we don’t take the result for sure but there are many games to play.”
“It’s not realistic to think about the big targets. We need to focus on the next game” 🔍
Pep Guardiola is taking it game-by-game in the Premier League ahead of Manchester City’s match against Liverpool 🔁 pic.twitter.com/UwwTFRMYIO
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 29, 2024
Asked if another setback at Anfield would constitute a crisis, Guardiola said it depended on your judgement.
“It is up to you, whatever you text and write,” he said. “We are second in the table. I’ve said many times that maybe we have to live as a club, as a team, these kind of situations.
“We will be back, I know that. I don’t know when, that is the truth.
“You can judge the situation that we are in – when the team has controlled the Premier League for many years – it’s normal that the situation happens. It’s about how we stand up again and again and again, whatever happens.
“We have done it in the past and hopefully we can start to do it again.”
