One point this weekend will be enough to secure a top-four place for Manchester City, but with their seemingly unlimited resources, anything less would surely be seen as a disaster. And comments this week from manager Pep Guardiola suggests he knows that this season’s performances have been far from acceptable.
In his pre-match conference prior to the West Bromwich Albion match, Pep stated “In my situation at a big club, I’m sacked. I’m out, If it is Barcelona and Bayern, you don’t win and you are out. Here I have a second chance and I will try to do it better next season.”
The Spaniard led Barcelona to three La Liga titles and two Champions League wins between 2008 and 2012. After joining Bayern Munich in 2013, he led them to three Bundesliga titles out of three, although he failed to get them beyond the semi-final in the Champions League.
City fans were hoping Guardiola would be the manager to lead them to their first title since 2014, and despite winning their first six matches in a row, they have struggled to put any kind of winning run together since. On closer inspection, in those first six matches, they only really faced one serious test, an away match against Manchester United. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Ihaneanacho were enough to see them through with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring for Manchester United.
They have lost to Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool and dropped silly points at home to Middlesbrough, Stoke City and Southampton. Going into the last match of the season, they trail champions Chelsea by fifteen points and second-placed Tottenham Hotspur by eight.
After splashing out huge transfer fees in the summer, only Gundogan, before his injury, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus look good enough for a side who hope to be competing for titles. John Stones has been disastrous in defence and Claudio Bravo has looked far from convincing in goal. Nolito, who was signed from Celta de Vigo for around £13M has flopped badly and only managed to find the net four times this season.
The Manchester City squad Guardiola inherited could be regarded as ageing and past it’s best and he may well need a few more transfer windows to stamp his mark on the team. But in this climate, where results and trophies are everything, calling your club small-time is hardly what the Manchester City fans want to hear.
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