The evening had already started badly for Pep Guardiola, well before the match against Brentford kicked off. After the team bus arrived at Gtech Community Stadium, the coach and his players headed towards the locker room, to the shouts of a supporter: “How is Madam, Pep?” How is Madam?”referring to the announcement of the divorce of the former FC Barcelona coach with his wife Cristina Serra after three decades of living together. Pep Guardiola did not react to these very bad jokes and headed directly towards the stadium tunnel hoping to respond on the pitch. And this was the case for the majority of the match since the Cytizens quickly opened the score then doubled the lead thanks to two goals from Phil Foden. Unfortunately, while Manchester City seemed to lock in a precious success, Brentford managed to reduce the score and equalize at the end of the match to turn the tide and pocket a point on the wire (2-2).
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«Of course, we won three games. Before it was impossible to win one and now we have won three. This helps us. But the reality is we won against a League Two team. For many reasons we had to win. We did it very well, but we still have to wait to see if we are what we are. The state of mind is better. We have a very difficult match to play. Thomas and his team always create a lot of problems. It's a fantastic team», Announced Pep Guardiola in the pre-match conference. And like a magical prediction, the Catalan coach was right. Beating Brentford was not an easy mission and even if the Cityzens did not lose this time, they disappointed by letting points slip away on the road to recovery. All one week before the clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
A new relaxation
If Manchester City has had worse in recent weeks, seeing Pep Guardiola's players come up again in the scoreline raises questions: “We were close. We had chances, they had chances. We didn't make the right decisions when we could run. With the way they play individual marking, we can run but our decision-making was not the best. We were winning long balls and could run with them, but we didn't make the right decisions. Between 2-1 and 2-2, it was really good. They put a lot of players in the box to cross and they are stronger in the box in this area. At 2-0 we have to close it down, but we don't have specific players to defend in the box, so we have to do it by controlling the ball.“, he analyzed. With this new setback, Pep Guardiola is officially having his worst season in his coaching career. Indeed, they have just 10 wins after 21 Premier League games this season (D5 L6) – their lowest tally at this stage of a Championship campaign.
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Moreover, Pep Guardiola seemed a little strange at the final whistle like this moment captured by the cameras where the Catalan coach unleashed himself on goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in a bizarre embrace after Manchester City squandered their two-goal lead against Brentford. He seemed angry at what had happened, but continued to hug the German. : “There are always positives and negatives. We're happy with a lot of things we've done, but I would say it hasn't been enough. Up front, the players create a lot. Since Brentford got promoted to the Premier League, they are still very good at set pieces, long balls and they are very quick. In general, the team played well, with composure, and many players made incredible efforts to play in different positions. Fatigue against Brentford in the last 15 minutes is normal. I have nothing to regret. I will recover and move on to the next match“, he concluded. The Sky Blues will have to get back in the saddle as they have a momentous trip to the Parc des Princes planned in a week's time.
Pub. the 15/01/2025 08:45
– UPDATE 15/01/2025 08:33
