Will Pep Guardiola experience the indignity of an unprecedented dismissal for him, fifteen years after launching his immense coaching career with Barcelona? There is still a way to go, obviously, but the latest results are slowly starting to resemble those of a coach in great danger.
“No more trouble in duels and without the ball”
“The situation is new for us,” admitted the Manchester City coach, after a fourth consecutive defeat on Saturday against Tottenham (4-0), but it shows to what extent what the team has accomplished in the past “is difficult” to achieve. “When you lose 4-0 you don’t need to say much. We have to accept it, congratulate Tottenham for everything they have done, and look in the mirror, us (as a team) and me,” he commented on Sky Sports.
His team, once so dominant, now has “more difficulty without the ball” and “in duels”, conceded the coach of the Citizens, winners of the Premier League six times in the last seven seasons. With the spiral of defeats, “it’s a little more difficult to get back into it mentally” when the opponent opens the scoring, he added. Manchester City remains second in the standings but is five points behind Liverpool, who play on Sunday and to whom Guardiola's team travels next weekend.
“Before this match, I didn't know what was going to happen today. When you ask me what's going to happen at Anfield, I don't know,” said the Spaniard, who is not giving up on his title chances: “the season is very long, a lot of things are going to happen.” Like a spectacular recovery of the Citizens? We're waiting to see.
