MAN CITY BOSS GUARDIOLA FACES EXIT AFTER DECISION
Pep Guardiola previously revealed that he leaves a club when he can no longer motivate himself or his team. The Man City boss, under pressure, faces a test of his longevity after a decade of success.
After receiving calls to leave as Manchester City's manager, Pep Guardiola has already provided an insight into what it would take for him to do so. Guardiola is fighting to regain City's domestic supremacy after the team finished behind Liverpool and Arsenal in the previous season, following nearly a decade of continuous success at the Etihad.
Between his successful stints at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, there have been hints that Guardiola would need a new challenge or a complete vacation from the game. Performance analyst Carles Planchart, who collaborated with Guardiola at Barcelona, Bayern, and City before departing the Etihad at the end of the previous campaign, is one individual who concurs.
If Guardiola wants to continue as manager, Planchart thinks a change would be best for him, telling SPORT: "It is a personal decision he will have to make." A project should, in my opinion, not exceed five or six years.
But not for everyone, not for him. You have to renew after that. He still has a lot of work to do; therefore, as a friend, I would advise him to find a new endeavour.
Guardiola's explanation for leaving Barcelona provides insight into what it would take for him to leave City, since he acknowledged that after winning 14 trophies in four years, including two Champions League titles, he found it difficult to inspire his team and himself.
In a 2014 interview with Audi, he stated, "We had tremendous success. The best time in the club's history was when they won 14 titles in just four years.
But over time, I discovered that it was getting harder and harder to inspire both the team and myself. You realise it is time to leave at that point.
Guardiola has stayed at City for a long time because, according to Planchart, the team has given him a sense of family that he did not have at Barcelona or Bayern.
"This is why he has been at City for so long," he continued, "because they have treated us like family and allowed us to work as if we were at home." That was not how he felt at Bayern or Barca.
He is an avid football lover. He lives his life on the grass and the green. He is a creative genius. His ability to invent football is his greatest strength. The rest of us are copycats; the hard part of life is producing. He is the best at this.
Guardiola seems to still have it in him at City, who bounced back from consecutive losses to Brighton and Tottenham in August to move up to fifth place in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Arsenal. After the international break, City will play their next game at home on October 18 against Everton.
MANCHESTER CITY CONDEMN RACIST ABUSE OF STARS SEMENYO AND GUEHI
Following swift stadium action, Manchester City pledge full support to Semenyo and Guéhi amid shocking discriminatory abuse.
Manchester City didn’t hold back after Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi faced racist abuse during and after their wild 3-3 draw with Everton. The game itself was a rollercoaster; City managed to scrape a point thanks to Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku, who nailed a jaw-dropping equaliser in the 96th minute.
Doku actually got City off to a great start, putting them up before halftime. But Everton flipped the script after the break, scoring three and having everyone on edge with ten minutes left. City defender Guehi made a costly error on Everton’s first goal, his misjudged back pass handing the ball to Thierno Barry, who didn’t think twice about putting it away.
Since then, City put out a statement confirming that Guehi was targeted with disgusting racist messages online, while Semenyo, who played most of the match at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, endured abuse in the stadium itself. City’s statement was straightforward: they’re outraged by the abuse and thanked Everton and the police for acting fast to identify the person responsible. They made it clear they're sticking by Guehi and Semenyo and won’t tolerate discrimination in football.
Right after the game, Guehi posted on social media, owning up to his mistake but keeping his head up. He thanked City fans and leaned on his faith, writing, “I need to do better, but we keep going & focused on the next. Thank you for your support as always! Thank you, Jesus!”
Racism in football keeps getting worse, on and off the pitch, and there’s a growing call for authorities to actually step up and fight discriminatory abuse wherever it shows up.
Both Guehi and Semenyo have made an immediate impact at City. Guehi came from Crystal Palace in January for £20 million, fitting right into Guardiola’s defence and looking sharp until Monday’s mishap. He’s already played 16 times for City. Semenyo arrived from Bournemouth for £64 million, has 22 appearances, and has made himself a regular threat, scoring eight goals with three assists, moving smoothly between central and wide positions.
They’re both expected to be in the lineup when City faces Brentford at home on Saturday as Guardiola’s team hangs onto their faint hopes of defending the title.
PEP GUARDIOLA REFUSES TO GUARANTEE RODRI’S RETURN FOR MONDAY’S PREMIER LEAGUE CLASH
Pep Guardiola provides the latest injury news on Rodri, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol ahead of a crucial title race clash at Everton.
Pep Guardiola has shared the latest on Manchester City's injury situation ahead of Monday’s Premier League match against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
City is in good form right now. They came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend, making it six wins in a row across all competitions.
But they’ve had to do it without Rodri. He's missed their last two matches, including a tight 1-0 win at Burnley, after hurting his groin against Arsenal a couple of weeks back. Guardiola recently told reporters that Rodri is getting better, but the team’s been cautious and isn’t rushing him back.
At his latest press conference on Friday, Guardiola said Rodri still hasn’t returned to training, so they’re just taking it day by day. There's hope, but Guardiola wouldn’t give any guarantees about Rodri’s chances of playing against Everton. "He’s getting better. Still, he didn't train with us, so we’ll see in the next few days,” he said. When pressed about his confidence, Pep just replied, “I am always confident.”
With Rodri still not training, it sounds like a last-minute decision on whether he’ll play. A start against Everton seems unlikely. That probably means Nico González, who scored the winner against Southampton, will keep his spot in midfield next to Bernardo Silva. Maybe Nico O’Reilly slides into central midfield, too, if he isn’t covering at left-back.
It’s not all good news in defence either. Ruben Dias is still out with the ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined for the last six games, and Josko Gvardiol is recovering from the tibial fracture he picked up in January. Both are working their way back, and Guardiola says they’re improving, but there’s no sign of a return just yet.
Turning to the Everton game, City could head into it trailing Arsenal by six points if the Gunners beat Fulham on Saturday. With the title race this tight, City can’t afford to slip up.
Guardiola knows Monday will be tough. “Everton have always been tough,” he said. “Old Everton was so cool and so British, and I loved to go there, but in the new stadium, they are defending really well, and it has always been tough." He’s not taking recent Everton results lightly, adding, 'They're fighting for a place in Europe. We won with two or three actions here, but we were not good at that moment. We can’t have any result but win, win, win.”
Everton won’t be easy, especially away, but City can at least take confidence from their strong record of 17 league games unbeaten against the Toffees. They won the reverse fixture 2-0, with Haaland scoring both goals. Still, Guardiola isn’t expecting it to be straightforward.
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