Post by Webster on Jan 13, 2023 18:44:11 GMT
(The Guardian) Pep Guardiola admits he feared a performance like Manchester City’s below-par display in their midweek Carabao Cup loss to Southampton was coming.
City slumped to a surprise quarter-final exit at the hands of the Premier League’s bottom side at St Mary’s on Wednesday, failing to register a single shot on target in a 2-0 defeat. Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said after the game he thought the team lacked hunger and Guardiola agreed, feeling the drop in his side’s usual standards was a natural comedown from all their recent successes.
“What happened didn’t surprise me,” said the City manager, whose side face arch-rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford this weekend. “I tried to avoid it. It happened and hopefully it won’t happen again but it’s happened because we did four Premier Leagues in five years. Sometimes you have to reset.
“This was our strength as a team in previous seasons but after back-to-back (titles) two times, this can happen. We were not ready to go there and be ourselves. I’m not talking about winning the Carabao Cup or winning games (now), it’s about being ourselves and behaving how we have to do in every single game. I was a little bit concerned at the beginning of the season that this could happen, and unfortunately it happened. I don’t know if it will happen again but there are no concerns about it at all.”
It was suggested to Guardiola that fans would not have liked hearing Gundogan’s comments but the City boss does not feel that is an issue. He said: “City fans cannot complain about what this team is able to do, and has done, and will do – and we cannot talk on behalf of City fans, because there are millions and we don’t know what every single one thinks.”
City slumped to a surprise quarter-final exit at the hands of the Premier League’s bottom side at St Mary’s on Wednesday, failing to register a single shot on target in a 2-0 defeat. Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said after the game he thought the team lacked hunger and Guardiola agreed, feeling the drop in his side’s usual standards was a natural comedown from all their recent successes.
“What happened didn’t surprise me,” said the City manager, whose side face arch-rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford this weekend. “I tried to avoid it. It happened and hopefully it won’t happen again but it’s happened because we did four Premier Leagues in five years. Sometimes you have to reset.
“This was our strength as a team in previous seasons but after back-to-back (titles) two times, this can happen. We were not ready to go there and be ourselves. I’m not talking about winning the Carabao Cup or winning games (now), it’s about being ourselves and behaving how we have to do in every single game. I was a little bit concerned at the beginning of the season that this could happen, and unfortunately it happened. I don’t know if it will happen again but there are no concerns about it at all.”
It was suggested to Guardiola that fans would not have liked hearing Gundogan’s comments but the City boss does not feel that is an issue. He said: “City fans cannot complain about what this team is able to do, and has done, and will do – and we cannot talk on behalf of City fans, because there are millions and we don’t know what every single one thinks.”