Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he expects to prove the doubters wrong in this season’s title race.
Heading into Wednesday’s game against Everton, the reigning champions are eight points adrift of top-of-the-table Liverpool, albeit having played two fewer games. Guardiola claims critics are only focused on results rather than performances so he can see why pundits are questioning their title credentials, even if he is not:
“The people say, ‘How good they play, the methodology, how genius it is,’ but it’s because I win. They don’t understand anything that we do, but they give credit just because we win. You have to look further than that. In the moment you don’t win there are going to be doubts, but that’s what’s nice. Doubt again. We’ll see what happens.”
Guardiola believes that City have played well in certain games this season when they have dropped points. He feels those nuances are not always acknowledged by critics:
“When we played incredibly well against Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Tottenham and we don’t win, it’s the real proof that they don’t care about the way we play. We played quite similar to the best levels we have played these past eight years. But we don’t win so it’s a crisis, a disaster.”
City are playing catch-up on their rivals
Onlookers see City sitting in 5th place and think that they have dropped their levels this season. That is perfectly understandable and there is definitely some truth that the team is not firing on all cylinders. Guardiola even admits himself that the defeat to Aston Villa, in particular, was not good enough.
Even so, there is no need to write off the season. Their participation in the Club World Cup simply means they have some catching up to do. The gap to Liverpool and Arsenal could close very quickly if they pick up some points in the coming weeks.
