“It cannot happen again” Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke honestly about the difficult period his side are going through
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola has given up hope of getting his Manchester City team back this season and told them all to play for their futures.
Ever since injuries bit for the Blues in October, the City boss has been adamant that his biggest wish has been to have his squad available to him. Having pushed back against a summer rebuild and spoken aloud his reluctance to spend in January, Guardiola insisted that when fit his squad would match anybody in Europe.
That looked like coming true against Real Madrid on Tuesday night as with their lowest number of absences since September City took the game to the European champions. Even with injuries in the middle of the game to Jack Grealish and Manu Akanji, they still led 2-1 with five minutes to go but threw the game away in what has been a familiar tale.
Guardiola has become resigned to his team gifting unacceptable goals to opponents and on Friday conceded that his ambition of having this squad back to their best is not going to happen. In a remarkable admission, he went on to say that City are struggling with and without the ball this season.
“The big, big success of the team was when we were able to do 20, 25, 30 sequences of passes in the opponents’ half, and now we are not able to do it,” he said. “Of course you have to insist; the team is built for that. The success is because of that, to build the team in that way.
“But now we don’t do it because we want to score, because we want to accelerate, because the people, they’re like, ah, let’s get the second goal. No, no, stop, stop. First to score, we have to play, you know? And it’s difficult to do it because the team are so… look at tomorrow, you know? Do you think we can compete against the physicality from Newcastle?
“If you want to fight against Bruno, fight against Tonali, I don’t know, Longstaff, Willock I don’t know if Joelinton will be there or in that position. They are stronger, they are quicker, they are faster than our players.
“But always was. Zinchenko as well when he was here and Sergio was here, and what I said, a lot, a lot of midfield players they were not physically strong, you know? And what happened? We won it.
“Liverpool always have been stronger than us. In this period Arsenal always have been stronger than us. And what is the problem? We play, you know, we play.
“But now, like I said before, you know, before we have the confidence to play with the ball and now we suffer when we have the ball. I accept when the opponents have the ball, I’m going to suffer. I accept it.
“But now we are suffering when we have the ball. It never happened before. We were comfortable with that. And now is what it is, because it’s built for that. Now I cannot change it. Now I cannot go to the gym for three days and put players stronger and faster and quicker. It’s not going to happen.”
If there are no quick fixes to City’s problems, that does not mean that there cannot be solutions this season. As much as the team have been unable to find the magic formula yet, Guardiola thinks they must cling to the positives they have and work from there.
With an executive team ready to spend big again in summer to refresh the team, every player must realise that their contributions are now not for this season but for what comes next. Guardiola will be in position to start next season, but it remains to be seen how many of the current squad will be with him.
“We bring three or four players and adapt quickly because we cannot train much and there are a lo of things that they have to learn but we have to do it. We have survived in the way that we have done it and we have to continue to finish the season as best as possible, be aware that every game you are playing for our future not for our present and do it.
“I don’t give up, I continue to do it even when it’s tough. It’s the first time that me and many of the players have lived this position but we have to accept it. The exception is what we have done before in all of our careers as well.
“This is not normal as well but maybe it is less exceptional. Maybe we’ll finish 14th or 15th in the league but we are 5th, not dropping like maybe other teams that had success in the past did.
“Accept it and take the good things we have because we have. Apparently it doesn’t look like it but we have good things and work from there and try to build. Maybe some results will help us, think about what we can do differently in terms of shapes and what players can give us, and try it.”
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