Pep Guardiola has admitted to questioning himself as Manchester City manager after his team’s nightmare run continued with a seventh defeat in 10 games, as goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie handed Juventus a 2-0 Champions League victory in Turin.
City will face Paris Saint-Germain on matchday seven next month, knowing that a loss could drop them into the bottom eight of the Champions League table and leave them facing the embarrassment of crashing out before the knockout stages.
Despite Juventus having won only one of their previous six games across all competitions, City struggled to create opportunities, and with Manchester United next up at the Etihad on Sunday in the Premier League, Guardiola admitted he is beginning to doubt himself as the defeats pile up.
“Of course [I am questioning myself]. I have my thoughts,” Guardiola said. “I’m stable in good moments and bad moments. I try to find a way to do it. I’m incredibly honest. If we play good, we play good.
“The dressing room is stable. Win we are happy, lose we are not. What can we do? Feel sorry for ourselves. No, we improve it and go forward.
“We have been in this situation this month many times. Tomorrow recover, prepare for United with our people, insist in the good things we do and try to be better.”
Despite the team’s poor form, which has been the worst of his managerial career, Guardiola insisted he was not facing his biggest challenge.
“My biggest challenge is to get results to continue to work in the first seasons [at Barcelona]. It’s life, it happens, sometimes you have a bad period. I’m going to insist until we’re there,” he said.
City midfielder Ilkay Gündogan commented that “confidence is a big part” of the team’s struggles, adding that “it’s a mental issue as well.” However, Guardiola disagreed with Gündogan’s assessment, maintaining that his team could still qualify for the next stage by avoiding defeat in Paris.
“I am not agreeing with Ilkay,” Guardiola said. “Of course it is tough, except one or two games in this period that were not good, the rest we were played good.
“We were incredibly aggressive in our high pressing. It is a cross [for the first goal] and [Dusan] Vlahovic is strong in this position.
“I don’t think it was defensive mistakes. We miss the last pass, not arrive in the six-yard box and have the composure and made the moment and assist, but we are the best. I love my team.
“[Qualification] is the target, We need one point, three points. Go to Paris to try to do it and then the last game is at home.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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