Pep Guardiola has openly discussed his own determination to change Manchester City’s fortunes around as soon as possible in his latest media address.
The Premier League champions slumped to yet another disappointing result in a performance against Everton on Boxing Day that many supporters were left far from impressed by, despite the view from within the squad being largely the opposite.
The 1-1 draw against Sean Dyche’s squad leaves City in 7th position within the league table and a staggering 14 points adrift of Liverpool at the Premier League’s summit, with Arne Slot’s side also having a game in hand.
The final contest of 2024 is no easy task either as Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City await at the King Power Stadium, with Guardiola continuing to battle against a depleted Manchester City squad roster for this weekend’s clash.
Nathan Ake endured a late fitness scare during the closing exchanges of the Boxing Day clash with Everton and the Dutchman is likely to be subject to a late assessment before the squad travel south.
Following the second-half of Pep Guardiola’s press conference after the 1-1 home draw with Everton on Boxing Day, here is every single word looking ahead to the final match of 2024, as Manchester City travel to Leicester City this weekend!
On how tough it is to change things around when results keep going bad
“Yeah, we tried. Keep going! Sometimes you expect it will be earlier, easier to fix it, but sometimes it takes more time. I will not give up! I want to be (here), I want to do it, with the situations that we have we have to do it.
“And now we go to Leicester, always it has been difficult, to try to do a good game to get a result, and the players who will be ready will do it.”
On whether the long difficult run despite success makes him even more determined to get it right
“Yeah, of course I want it, everybody wants it. I feel I don’t want to disappoint my people, in terms of the club, in terms of the fans, or the people who love this club. But in terms of the results, there is nothing to say.
“I said in the last weeks every time; I’m saying about how you perform today in many moments that was really, really good knowing the quality of the opponent.”
On a greater determination to please the people
“But it’s not now, it has been in all my career since I arrived as a football player or as a manager. I think every one of us in our jobs wants to please the people, wants to do good our jobs. That is undeniable, that is not a question mark I would say. It’s easy to understand.
“The great test we have done. We will come back to that sooner or later, it happens. But that makes us remember how good was the past. That’s the truth. It made me realise now what we have done, because sometimes we have injuries and how many years we were incredibly, incredibly consistent.
“But you expect a little bit (to go) down, we didn’t expect much and the main, main reason is having seven, eight important injured players. And after, every three days it’s more difficult. But I see the team, the spirit, how yesterday they trained, how focussed they are in all we try to practice, how to try to do it, and we saw today the game. We saw it.
“But unfortunately, we could not get the result that we wanted.”
On the confidence in the current team vs the City team that lost 4-2 to Leicester in his first season at the club
“Well comparing one situation to eight, nine years ago, I don’t know if it’s fair enough. I don’t know how to relate it from one to the other one. That season was the first year with more or less the squad there, I don’t know in what month it was, it was a low point, right?
“But after we built what we built and now I don’t see similarities, to be honest. I don’t see it.”
On whether he will talk to Erling Haaland about the penalty miss
“No. I congratulated the team, I said again, it was well played guys. The only chance that we have is to continue, tomorrow recovery, prepare well for the trip to Leicester, play the game, New Years Eve we have after, days to do.
“It’s like the United game, it was like a moment that we could change the dynamic. Today we changed the dynamic, unfortunately we could not do it for many reasons. United we gave it away, today we were close again.
“But I don’t have from my education to say start to complain, start to point at people, it’s happened, it’s life, it’s football, it’s try it again, try it again. That’s why we had success because always it was not enough.
“We try it again, again, and again, and that’s why we won a lot of titles and every three days game, game, game and win, win, win for many, many months, many years, because again, and again. And now we have to do the same, when the results are not good.”
On being calm
“It is what it is! I prefer to not live that situation, but it is what it is! I think I try to be as much calm as possible to try to read what is the situation, the situation is results obviously, but what we can do to do it better in the next game.
“When the players come back, and the players starting in their positions, this is what we want to try, want to do. It’s all I want to do!”
