Despite the crisis, Manchester City’s star coach Pep Guardiola is not thinking about giving up.
“I won’t give up. I want to be here. I want to do it and in the situation we are in, we have to do it,” said the Spaniard. On Sunday (from 3:15 p.m. live on RTL+) at Leicester City, Guardiola will be on the sidelines of the top English club for the 500th time and urgently needs a win.
The 53-year-old only extended his contract with the Cityzens for two years in November, but his team is in crisis. A nightmare run of nine defeats in 13 games with just one win has led to suggestions that Guardiola could quit if he cannot find a solution to his team’s problems.
After 18 matchdays, they are already 14 points behind rivals Liverpool FC – defending the championship will be extremely difficult.
“I’ll try, I’ll keep going”
But there is no trace of farewell thoughts from Guardiola. “I’ll try, I’ll keep going. Sometimes you think that the bad streak will end sooner or that it would be easier to fix it, but it takes more time.” The main problem at the moment is the many injuries at City.
“Ballon D’Or” winner Rodri has been out since the end of September with a torn cruciate ligament. The pillars Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake are currently missing in defense. “For many years we have been incredibly consistent, but now we are a bit behind and the main reason is that so many important players are injured,” Guardiola explained. The “biggest test” now is to get back on track.
The omens are good against newly promoted Leicester. Since 2021, City have always won against the surprise champions of 2016 and Guardiola sees his team prepared. “I saw the team spirit, how we trained this week, how focused they are and how they try to train,” he said.