PEP GUARDIOLA recently bristled at pundits’ suggestions that his Manchester City side are suffering from complacency.
The reigning Treble-winners have stuttered of late, most recently surrendering two leads to draw 3-3 with Tottenham on Sunday.
After the match, Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards suggested that City could be experiencing a post-Treble hangover.
But Guardiola was having none of it, later responding: “I have a feeling that if we maintain that level, we’ll win the Premier League. We will win it again.
“He knows how difficult it is otherwise Gary Neville would’ve won four Premier Leagues in the best period of Manchester United.
“But he didn’t do it, you know?
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“Jamie Carragher didn’t win one once. Micah Richards didn’t win four Premier Leagues in a row.
“Never, ever. It’s never happened. There is more chance of it not happening than happening.”
Guardiola, 52, questioned the pundits’ qualifications to criticise his side.
The former Barcelona star won 16 trophies during his illustrious playing career – including six LaLiga titles and the Champions League.
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In data collected by SportsBoom.com, six pundits that work for Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Amazon Prime Video or the BBC won more as players than Guardiola.
The first is Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, who won a stunning 26 trophies during his Old Trafford days.
His old pal Neville won 22, including eight Prem titles and the Champions League.
Roy Keane, Thierry Henry, Ally McCoist and Alex Scott all grabbed 20 apiece.
The majority of Keane’s came playing with Man Utd pals Neville and Scholes, although he did add a further two trophies with Celtic north of the border.
Henry won a sack-load with Arsenal before adding the Champions League after his move to Barcelona.
McCoist won all of his trophies while playing for Rangers in Scotland.
While Scott enjoyed three incredibly successful stints at Arsenal, winning the Women’s Champions League in 2007.
Among those to have fallen just short of Guardiola’s tally are Eni Aluko, who won 13 and Owen Hargreaves, who managed 12 despite his injury woes – while Carragher and Karen Carney earned 11 each.
Liverpool legend Carra cheekily responded to Guardiola’s comments.
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Writing on social media, he replied: “I think I’d have probably won one if Liverpool were owned by a nation-state, and pushed the rules so far that the PL charged us 115 times!
“I was actually praising Pep’s team after the game on Sunday, he added with a laughing face emoji.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
