Manchester City haven’t won for six games and face top-of-the-table Liverpool on Sunday in a match which is set to have repercussions on this season’s Premier League title race
Pep Guardiola has admitted his past record of success at Manchester City is the only thing saving him from the sack.
City go to Premier League leaders Liverpool tomorrow on the back of a six-game winless run, comprising of five straight defeats and a draw – the worst run of Guardiola’s managerial career. At any other top club in Europe, Guardiola would almost certainly have been sacked, with the City boss conceding he has only been spared that fate after winning 18 trophies in eight years.
“At this football club you have to win and, if you don’t win, you will be in trouble,” said Guardiola ahead of the trip to Anfield. “I know the people say, ‘why is Pep not in trouble, why is Pep not sacked?’
“What we have done the last eight years is why I have this margin. The people rely on me, the hierarchy, all the people. It’s not normal in the big clubs to have the results we’ve had, but we have to accept it. What’s for sure is that I want to stay. I want to do it. But the moment I feel I’m not positive for the club, another one [manager] will come. It has to be.”
Second-placed City are eight points behind Liverpool and could see that gap extend to 11 points if Arne Slot’s side win tomorrow, to increase their advantage in the title race. Guardiola acknowledged City have fallen short this season by their imperious standards of previous years, but told his players to stand up and not feel sorry for themselves.
“When the dynamics are good, it’s always easier,” said Guardiola. “But you have to accept the situation that we have. The only thing we can do, I learned in all my life, is to move forward. In the good moments and in the bad moments, that’s what you have to do.
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“We’re at the end of November, the game at Anfield will be the first day of December, so there are many, many months to play, many good things to play for. You can’t fall down again.
“The success is in how many times you stand up when again and again and again you fall. So that’s what you have to do.”
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