PEP GUARDIOLA has told his Manchester City players: Let’s relax a bit!
The Etihad faithful spent the international fortnight fretting about their team slipping nine points behind leaders Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola has urged his Man City stars to relax despite Liverpool’s leadCredit: Getty
And their manager is not exactly known for his laid-back demeanour in the dressing room and on the touchline.
The last sight of him before his players went away to represent their countries was losing his rag with officials during the defeat at Anfield.
Yet he has returned from a short holiday with a sense of calm about what the future holds for both him and his reigning champions.
First he eased fears that he might walk away from the Etihad at the end of the season, despite a testing start to this campaign.
Now he has told his back-to-back champions to chill out and not worry about the distance between themselves and top spot.
Guardiola was given a crash course in City’s history when he arrived in 2016, so he knows things have been worse at the club — much worse, in fact.
And after keeping their hopes of a third straight title just about intact, the Spaniard said: “I’ve said to the players relax, do your job.
“We will see in December, January, February, March and we will see what position we are in.
“If the position is far away, OK it’s far away. We are going to try again next season.
“The only pressure we can have is that we are going to lose the Premier League. OK — so that is the pressure.
“It’s not the first time in Manchester City’s 125-year history they lost the Premier League.”
He is absolutely right there. City have never had it so good.
They became the first team in a decade to retain the top-flight title last season — only one other team has won it three times in a row.
Guardiola was philosophical about their chances of pulling off that feat, but believes if any team can do it, this one can.
He added: “If we are going to lose the Premier League, we are going to try again next season.
“I know what happens in this competition — when a team in the last decade won the Premier League, what happened the year after
“Just take a look. We didn’t give up last season, that’s why we won again. Maybe we are going to lose but this team never gives up. This team is great.
“If we don’t win we don’t win but I know here there are winners and losers, that’s all.”
Then one of football’s serial winners really did get a bit deep. He added: “I think from sport there’s a message for society.
“It’s not good for our kids and teenagers to show them that just the winner is perfect. We are creating depressed people, losing people and it is not right.
“Effort and commitment is important. In football, I know we want to win but just win once — the other is a disaster. It is not.”
Guardiola’s fourth season at Barcelona ended without his team winning either of the two major trophies although he did win four others.
But he pointed out on Friday that back then his team were playing the best football of his reign.
So with that in mind, maybe City fans should brace themselves.
On Saturday they were treated to one of the top-flight’s matches of the season. Frank Lampard’s brave young Chelsea side took the game to City right from the off.
In fact, the only surprise about them taking the lead was that it had not come earlier as N’Golo Kante supplied a neat finish to Mateo Kovacic’s fine ball over the top.
City were in the unusual position of being on the back foot in a home game but got an overdue bit of luck to get back into it.
David Silva’s pass was deflected into the path of former Chelsea man Kevin De Bruyne, whose shot clipped Kurt Zouma to wrong-foot Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The game had turned completely and City were ahead when Riyad Mahrez picked up a pass from Rodri before weaving his way into the box and rolling home a delicious second.
City face a tricky few weeks in the build up to Christmas with games against Manchester United, Arsenal and Leicester.
But Algerian ace Mahrez reckons Guardiola has assembled a team who can go out and win every game — and are well capable of closing the gap on Liverpool.
He said: “We knew they had won but we are built to win every game. If they win or lose, we try to win. It’s our mentality. We have to win anyway.
Man City eventually overcame Chelsea in a thrilling 2-1 winCredit: AFP
“We don’t look too much at Liverpool. At some points last season they were ten points ahead of us and we still kept going.
“We have to try to win every game, like we used to, and see how many points we have at the end.
“I like winning. That is the dressing room and the manager, to have the spirit to win every game.”
Frank Lampard speaks to the press about holding a Pep Guardiola team to lowest possession ever in 381 top-flight matches
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
