Pep Guardiola points the finger of blame amid Man City crisis with alarming admission
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Master tactician Pep Guardiola admits he’s stumped trying to work out why he can’t lift his Manchester City players. They host West Ham on Saturday looking to secure the rarity of back-to-back wins. That seems absurd for a side that has bagged four Premier League titles in a row, but Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Leicester was only a second victory in 14 games – a sign of just how far they’ve tumbled.
Guardiola hopes it’s a turning point after their shambolic run. But he’s not naive either. Amid their alarming fall from grace, the Catalan has had to make some big calls on gilded, loyal players, such as Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, who have helped him secure an astonishing 18 trophies.
But Guardiola maintained: “It’s not now that I realised. The call is on me first. I’m unbelievably honest with myself. I know the reason why we arrive and the main, main reason, it is me. Not the players. “They naturally drop a little bit and that’s normal. It happened even last season. But with this consistency (of results) I should have found it and it didn’t happen and that is why we’re in this position.”.
He added: “I blame [myself]. It’s not to say, ‘oh how nice is Pep’ No. it’s the truth. I lead that group of players and I could not lift them so far. This is the reality. Why in the past they followed me, they were able to get results?. “For one or two months, we were the only unbeaten team in Europe and top of the league. Immediately we went down. For injuries, many things we’ve talked about. But even with that, I should have found a way to get better results. Hopefully we can continue now. That’s why the Leicester win was important.
