Sport
Is Pep Guardiola under pressure at Man City?
Pep Guardiola suffered his first defeat as Manchester City boss against Tottenham and another loss to the same opponents this weekend will provide more questions than answers about the Spaniard, who some say is now under pressure.
It seems a long time ago when City and Guardiola started life together with 10 straight wins out of 10 in all competitions as City threatened to steamroller everyone set out in front of them.
However, Tottenham were the first time to expose City’s frailties with a dominant 2-0 win at White Hart Lane and they are probably the last opponents Guardiola wanted to face after the humiliating 4-0 defeat to Everton last time out.
Tottenham are the most in-form team in the Premier League and go to the Etihad Stadium aiming to win seven league games in a row for the first time since 1967.
Guardiola suffered the heaviest defeat as a manager with the humbling on Merseyside to leave them well off the pace in the title race, trailing leaders Chelsea by 10 points.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has suggested the title may be beyond City this season when it looked like at the start of the campaign they would were going to run away with it.
Pep Guardiola has lost five Premier League games so far this season and he has never lost more in a single campaign as a manager before and looking from his body language and gloomy expressions the Spaniard is finding life in English football a lot more difficult than the unprecedented success he enjoyed in Spain and Germany.
City’s inconsistent spells have meant they have been unable to live up expectations as after winning 10 straight games they followed the defeat to Tottenham by going six games without a win.
How a team can go from demolishing West Ham 5-0 to losing to Everton 4-0 in just a week shows the unpredictable nature of English football and illustrates Guardiola still has a lot to do to get to grips with the unique demands of the Premier League.
After losing to Leicester, City bounced back to beat Arsenal the following week and Guardiola will be hoping his players can respond against Tottenham otherwise the pressure will continue to grow on Guardiola.
Guardiola has not done himself any favours by refusing to change his principles over his style of playing despite some opponents laying bare their shortcomings.
The Spaniard’s insistence on playing the ball out from the goalkeeper through the defence has been seized upon by opponents, but Guardiola has continued to keep doing it despite some players not looking comfortable trying to implement his ideas.
City spent big once again in the summer, but so far Guardiola’s signings have still to convince at the Etihad Stadium.
Joe Hart was unceremoniously dumped by Guardiola with Claudio Bravo brought in from Barcelona, but the Chilean has been an unmitigated disaster for City and makes the dumping of Hart look a bigger mistake by Guardiola every passing game.
John Stones has struggled to cope with the expectations his lofty price tag brings, while Leory Sane and Nolitio have failed to make the desired impact.
Guardiola was brought in as City’s dream ticket to guide them to Champions League glory, but they are now in real danger of not even qualifying for the competition next season.
City currently find themselves in fifth spot in the table two points outside the top four and Guardiola is now in danger of not plying his trade in Europe’s premier competition and failure to qualify next season would be a disaster for the club’s grand plans.
Pep Guardiola said after the defeat to Tottenham in October his side needed to “learn from it” and Guardiola for himself is learning quickly that the Premier League is the most unforgiving league in the world.
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