Pep Guardiola: ‘Self-doubt, errors and big changes – inside crisis at Man City’
Guardiola also put a lot of thought into it. As he said, he didn’t sleep well and sometimes acted unnaturally during interviews with the media.
As he tries to find out the reasons for City’s demise, he’s been talking to a lot of people about what’s going on. Some reasons he knew, some reasons he still didn’t know.
People may not realize that Guardiola is very doubtful of himself and always has been.
He’ll think “I can’t get us out of this” and needs the support of those around him to relieve those insecurities – and he has that.
He is protected by his staff, who know just as well as he does that there are many who want City to fail.
It’s been a turbulent time for Guardiola. remember those There’s a mark on his head After the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League?
He is always scratching his head, which is a sign of nervousness. Normally nothing would have happened, but one of his nails that day was too sharp, so after talking to players in the locker room and scratching his head with his usual excited gestures, he went to the press conference.
His right-hand man Manel Estiarte sent him the photo in a message saying “What’s on your head?”, but when Guardiola returned to the coaching room there was almost nothing there.
He had his nose covered from that day on after the same thing happened at the training ground the day before. Guardiola was having a footballing debate with Kyle Walker over positioning and took the same nail to his nose.
There was also a headline-grabbing press conference after the Manchester derby, where he said: “I don’t know what to do.”
This is partly correct and partly incorrect.
Ignore the fact that Guardiola suggested he wasn’t “good enough”. What he actually means is that he’s not good enough to deal with the group of players he has and all the other difficult circumstances at hand.
There are obviously logical explanations for this crisis, the first of which has been talked about many times – midfielder Rodri is out injured.
Do you know the game Jenga? When you take out the wrong piece, the entire tower collapses. That’s what’s happening here.
If a player is the best in the world at his position, it’s normal for teams to rely too much on him. You can’t calculate the consequences of someone like Rodri missing the season due to injury.
Manchester City is a team where, like many modern teams, the holding midfielder is a key element in the team’s construction.
So when you take Rodri out, it’s hard to hold on. There was a plan B – John Stones, Manuel Akanji, even Nathan Ake – but injuries happened.
The injury list is unusual, and a busy schedule compounds the problem.
However, one factor that even Guardiola can’t explain is the huge, uncharacteristic mistakes made by international players in almost every game.
Why did Matheus Nunes challenge a penalty against Manchester United? Jack Grealish was called upon to hold the ball in the closing seconds but was unable to do so. Walker and other defenders had turnovers. These are the best players in the world.
Of course the player’s mentality is very important, confidence is weakening. Wrong decisions were made, so there was almost panic on the pitch instead of calm.
There are also some players who are in serious poor condition and have to participate in the game due to injuries.
Walker can’t hide behind his pace now, I’m not sure Kevin De Bruyne can get back to his old level, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan have no time to rest, Gerry Lish wasn’t at his best.
Some of these players were only supposed to play one game a week, but due to injuries, they played 12 games in 40 days. This all creates a domino effect.
One result was that Erling Haaland did not score. But the Norwegian still tops Manchester City’s top scorer list with 13 goals. Defender Josko Gvardiol ranks second with 4 goals.
Judging from City’s internal analysis of their form, there are only three games they should have lost (Liverpool, Bournemouth and Aston Villa). Of course, it’s time to change things.
