Sport
Pressure building on Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola will end this season for the first time in his coaching career without a trophy and the pressure will be on the Manchester City boss to deliver next term.
This is not how this season was expected to pan out for City and Pep Guardiola following his much acclaimed arrival last summer as the final piece in the jigsaw to establish City as a superpower at home and abroad.
Pep Guardiola is now in uncharted territory for the first time in his managerial career as after trophy-ladden spells in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich he finds himself with no silverware to show for the season.
Failure to win a trophy is not a disaster by any means in his first season in England, but not finishing in the top four would be unacceptable for City and Pep Guardiola.
Not being able to offer Champions League football to prospective new player would undoubtely hurt City’s transfer plans this summer as all the top players want to be playing in Europe’s elite competition.
City finished in fourth place last season under Manuel Pellegrini and that is where they currently find themselves right now under Pep Guardiola, hoping to stave off challenges from neighbours United, Liverpool and Arsenal to claim a Champions League place next season.
Nobody at City at the start of the season would have expected the club to find themselves out of contention for all the honours when they prizes are handed out, but that is where they are after Arsenal ended their FA Cup dreams last weekend.
Guardiola is his own fiercest critic at times and no doubts he will be determined to right the wrongs of this season, but maybe he realises just how big a job he got on his hands to lift City to the pinnacle of European football.
The appointment of Guardiola was regarded as “a project” by the club, but the Spaniard has not found many answers to City’s issues this season.
This season Guardiola has provided more questions than answers and his philosophy and style of football has been heavily scrutinised.
City spent big last summer and no doubts Guardiola will again be backed by City’s cash-rich owners at the end of the season to transform City’s squad into serial winners like he did at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
However, competition is fierce in the Premier League and rivals such as Chelsea, United, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal are all likely to get their cheque books this summer to strenghthen their squads.
City’s owners were always going to give Pep Guardiola time in his debut season in the Premier League and the challenges of playing in England have surely even taken Guardiola by surprise.
It has been a season of firsts for Guardiola this term going six games without a win earlier this campaign which was the longest winless run of his career and ending a season without a trophy, but next season he has to ensure City finish first!
City have set themselves high standards since their meteoric rise following their Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008, but those have not been met so far by Guardiola and they do not look like they have improved from last season.
The honeymoon is well and truly over for Guardiola after a season of under-achievement and next season will be the biggest of his managerial career.
If things do not improve next season and Guardiola does not live up to his lofty expectations it could lead to an early divorce with City’s hierarchy who did so much to woo him to England after years of courting.
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