Pep Guardiola is currently facing the most serious sporting crisis of his coaching career. However, running away is not an option for the Manchester City coach.
In the Bundesliga or La Liga, they might say: now is the right time for a short winter break. For a reset, a fresh start. But in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City, which has been badly shaken these days, have to keep going.
On Sunday, they face promoted Leicester City and Ruud van Nistelrooy. In January, they face seven competitive games, starting on January 4 against West Ham and ending on January 29 against Bruges in the Champions League.
With just one win in the past 13 games, Guardiola has an unprecedented sporting crisis to overcome. Understandably, the Catalan coach has already written off the club’s fifth consecutive Premier League title. They are currently 14 points behind league leaders Liverpool, who have also played a game less.
And yet Guardiola is not thinking about throwing in the towel. “I will try, I will continue,” he said on Saturday before the trip to Leicester. “I will not give up. I want to be here.”
Nobody wants to end the miserable streak more than his team and him. “I don’t want to disappoint my people, the club, the fans, the people who love this club. I think every one of us wants to do our job well and satisfy the people.”
Guardiola speaks of the “biggest test”
Guardiola called a comeback after this situation the “biggest test”, but remained hopeful: “We’ve done it before.”
Guardiola continues to cite the many injuries as the main reason for the lack of results. The sobering 1-1 draw against Everton illustrated the personnel crisis: for the first time since May 13, 2017 (a 2-1 win over Leicester), neither Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ederson nor Jack Grealish were in the squad.
Guardiola, who has long since publicly spoken of the need for winter transfers, is confident that his team can turn things around as early as Leicester: “I’ve seen the team spirit, how we’ve trained this week, how focused my players are, how they try in training. We also saw that against Everton, but unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
