- An ex-England manager believes Pep Guardiola’s City tenure is a vanity project
- He believes the Spaniard actively tries to steal the ‘spotlight’ from his stars
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off!, available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday
Pep Guardiola‘s pride costs him trophies and he actively tries to snatch the limelight from his stars, a former England manager has claimed.
Manchester City are on an abysmal run which has seen them lose seven out of 10 games and their latest blow came at the hands of Juventus, 2-0 on Wednesday night in the Champions League.
Guardiola has won 18 trophies as City boss, including six Premier Leagues and a Champions League, but Fabio Capello believes his tenure is a vanity project and a power trip over his players.
‘Guardiola is a great coach, but he is far too arrogant and presumptuous,’ Capello told Sky Sport Italia ahead of the game in Turin.
‘At times, he has even lost trophies because he wanted to prove that he was the one winning and not the players, so he dropped key figures from the side in the big games.
‘That was, in my view, an attempt to take the spotlight and the credit away from his squad.’
Pep Guardiola tries to snatch the ‘spotlight and credit’ from Manchester City’s stars with his tactics, an ex-England boss has claimed
City sunk to a seventh defeat in 10 on Wednesday night as they lost 2-0 to Juventus in Turin
Fabio Capello has claimed that Guardiola is ;arrogant and presumptuous’, but a ‘great coach’
It is possible Capello was nodding to City’s 1-0 Champions League final defeat to Chelsea in 2021, when he dropped Fernandinho and Rodri to much puzzlement.
There was also the time he bafflingly went with a back three against Lyon in the quarter-finals in 2020, and the game in the 2017 last 16 against Monaco when instead of defending a two-goal advantage from the first leg, he fielded five attackers and left Yaya Toure on the bench.
Guardiola had admitted to overcomplicating things. ‘In the Champions League, always I overthink. I overthink a lot, absolutely,’ he once said. ‘That’s why I’ve had good results. I love to overthink and create stupid tactics.’
Guardiola brought Ederson back into the starting line-up for Stefan Ortega, having been dropped after his clanger in the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord.
But Ederson could not keep out Juventus stars Dusan Vlahovic and Weston KcKennie, and Paolo Di Canio ripped into him.
‘Ederson has talent, but he is so arrogant that he makes these mistakes due to sheer over-confidence and trying to show off, like a back-heel flick when under pressure,’ said the West Ham legend.
Capello concurred that Ederson was a ‘disaster’ and called for Guardiola to drop him until he amends his ways.
Paolo Di Canio and Capello both ripped into Ederson as City lost a seventh game in 10
Speaking after the defeat, Guardiola was buoyant about his side’s performance.
‘We played really, really good,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘We missed the last action, some transition happens, but I am so proud of these players.
‘They gave everything and we tried. It is difficult in Europe. We played really good.’
