Guardiola takes pressure off his team. The Sampedor coach had an unusual campaign with Manchester City last season, signing the first treble in the history of the English club. The coach joked yesterday about the possibility of leaving the bench due to his short run of bad results, if the feat were repeated: "If I win the treble again, I'll retire," Pep ironically said before the game against Aston Villa.
Unai Emery's team managed to defeat the 'citizens' (1-0) yesterday, thus achieving their fourteenth consecutive victory this season at home and climbing to third position in the Premier with 32 points. On the contrary, City had their fourth straight game at Villa Park without winning in the domestic championship, if we add to the last defeat the draws against Chelsea (4-4), Liverpool (1-1) and Tottenham ( 3-3) in the last league games.
“The competition dictates what your level is like. The challenge is very big. September, October or November, thinking about titles? Forget it, it would be a mistake," Guardiola told the microphones of Amazon Prime Sports. Regarding the treble obtained last year, he assured that "it is something extremely difficult." "Only Ferguson's United and us achieved it last season. We'll see, our level will determine it," Pep said.
Guardiola also went four games without winning in 2017. At that time, he was already on the bench at the Etihad Stadium. The same thing happened to him in 2009, when he drew against Deportivo de la Coruña, Villarreal and lost against Osasuna and Mallorca. In the latter case, as Barça coach.
All in all, Manchester City is currently fourth in the Premier League with a record of nine wins, three draws and three losses. The 'Sky Blues' are currently six points behind Arsenal, the leader in England, and qualified for the round of 16 of the Champions League whose matches will be defined on December 18.
However, Guardiola's team was eliminated from the League Cup in September by Newcastle United (1-0). The injuries of Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne, as well as the departure of Gündogan this summer to Barça also negatively affect Manchester City's game.
In this regard, Guardiola understands that he must "find a solution" to remedy the small gap that his team is going through. "We know what our level is and I, as a coach, have to find a way to win games. We are suffering," he acknowledged at the end of the match against Aston Villa.
