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Pep Guardiola has delivered a festive warning to Manchester City’s title rivals: write the Treble winners off at your peril.
City have fallen to fifth in the Premier League after winning just one of their last six games but hope that a week spent on the banks of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia has reinvigorated the squad.
Guardiola picked up his 14th major trophy as manager when they beat Fluminense 4-0 to lift the Club World Cup on Friday night – but is straight back to the grind on Wednesday at Everton.
City could have been well adrift in the title race but Liverpool’s last two draws keep the defending champions within touching distance at a time of the season they usually gather momentum.
‘The more you win, they want you to fail more than ever,’ Guardiola said. ‘I’ve felt that since day one in Barcelona, that people are waiting.
Pep Guardiola has insisted Man City’s rivals should be careful with writing the side off despite a patchy December
The side hoisted the Club World Cup trophy aloft on Friday after beating Brazil’s Fluminense
‘The people say “how good they play, the methodology, how genius it is” but it’s because I win. They don’t understand anything about what 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. That is OK. Doubt (us) again. We’ll see what happens.
‘What we have won, the titles, is unbelievable. I said a few days ago that when we played incredibly well against Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Tottenham but didn’t win, it’s the real proof that they (critics) 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 didn’t win so it’s a crisis, a disaster.’
A ‘greedy’ Guardiola admitted he regrets losing to Arsenal on penalties in the Community Shield, which would have seen City emulate his 2009 Barca side in collecting a sextuple.
The 52-year-old is motivating his squad to go for more by saying they must ‘buy a new book’ to create more history after winning every bit of silverware available – and wants them to recognise the agonising defeats in Europe that had blighted his tenure.
Next up the Manchester side will travel to Everton who have been enjoying a strong run of form
‘I have a feeling that the job is done,’ he added. ‘The trophies belong to all the staff, all the players. I said to the team, the reason why we are here is not Istanbul, it’s not Inter Milan.
‘The reason we are here is Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham, Lyon. It’s a final against Chelsea we lost and the last minutes against Real Madrid.
‘It wasn’t just bring Pep here and immediately it happens, it’s a process. Eight years of the job with a lot of disappointments but it’s part of life. It made us feel, “OK let’s go for the last one” and the players did it again.
‘The greatest athletes forget as quickly as possible the success. We’ll try it again. Not try it again for five (league) titles but try it again. We try to drive them.’
