Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola expects a dramatic improvement on the performance levels of his players
Pep Guardiola gave his Manchester City players some home truths after an unacceptable performance at Southampton.
Guardiola said that he was not completely surprised by the 2-0 defeat in the league cup because he had felt like a poor performance was on the cards. But he still made clear that higher standards are expected and that his squad have to listen to him rather than other influences in their lives if they are to improve.
The City boss, who signed a new contract in November to extend his stay in Manchester until 2025, suggested that he could be the only presence in the lives of the players who tells them what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear and that they couldn’t rely on former achievements.
“All I can do is to tell my players the reality in good and bad moments. I have more experience than them. Not at playing football but at analyse what happens, I’m better than them,” he said.
“I’m the only person to tell them the truth. After, I will insist until the last day I’m here what they have to do, if we are ten points behind our situation or ten points in front.
“That is my job. Put everyone in the team individually in front of their own mirrors to look at themselves. This is all I can do. I’ve done it in the past, recently, I will do it. Every day. I did it this week. Sometimes not saying anything, they see my face, they know exactly the situation. This is my job.
“Maybe they are not used to it because they are surrounded by people telling them how good they are. I am the only person in their own lives who can tell them exactly what the situation is.”
Guardiola counts just the Brentford game immediately before the break for the World Cup and the performance at Southampton as the two games where City have not been the better side, but captain Ilkay Gundogan said in midweek that the hunger and desire from the players has not been there recently. City were held by Everton in the league as well as exiting the league cup at Southampton, making them more inconsistent than they have been previously.
This comes with several senior players left out of the starting XI since domestic football resumed after the World Cup, with Kalvin Phillips publicly castigated for returning from his break unfit to train and the likes of Joao Cancelo, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden left on the bench as the manager cited body language as the most important factor in his team selections. Guardiola will not accept his players using the World Cup as an excuse for inconsistency, telling them to find another club if they cannot cope with what they were previously able to.
“It’s because we want the lot,” he said. “Sometimes you have to drop a little bit. The performance at Southampton I’ve never seen before. It happened.
“You can say it’s one day, mistakes. It’s not allowed. We have an average, whether we win or lose, and it’s below below this average. You have to improve.
“I don’t put an excuse for the World Cup. All the teams played the World Cup.
“The other teams, and if we had more players it’s because you deserve it. Every season the teams in the Champions League and Europa League play the most minutes in the Premier League.
“We play all the time, the big clubs, 10-15 more games than others. If you think the competition is unfair, it’s unfair – we play more games than them. But if you don’t like it, go to teams who plays one game a week.
“If you won in the past that way, you should do it now. The World Cup? Come on – excuses at other places, not here.”
SOURCE: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
