Manchester Metropolis manager Pep Guardiola blamed himself for his team’s woeful run until the end of 2024.
The reigning Premier League champions have in each of the last four seasons suffered a dramatic fall out of the division’s elite. It took a nervous and unconvincing 2-0 victory over relegation-beaten Leicester Metropolis to end a two-month wait for an away victory.
Even after goals from Savinho and Erling Haaland at the King Energy Stadium, Metropolis have only managed two wins in their previous 14 matches in all competitions and head into Saturday’s Premier League clash against West Ham United away from the first five.
Reflecting on the worst spell of his illustrious coaching career, Guardiola blamed himself. “The call is mine first,” he told media gathered Friday. “I’m incredibly honest with myself about the reason we got here and it’s me. It’s not the players. Naturally, they go down a little and that is regular. It happened a little bit last season too.
“But with this consistency (of results) I should have found it and that is why we are in this position. I blame (myself). It’s not to say: ‘Oh, how cute Pep is’, it’s the truth. I lead that group of players and I couldn’t lift them up. This is reality.”
The coach, who renewed his contract for two years after four consecutive defeats in November, continued: “Why in the past did they follow me and get results? We were the only undefeated team in Europe and leaders of the league. We immediately went down with injuries, we have talked about a lot of things, but even then I should have found a way to get better results.
Guardiola has spent much of Metropolis’ losing streak emphasizing that the team has been playing well at times only to be undone by misfortune. However, the manager admitted that his team suffered in the narrow victory over Leicester.
“We have to get our game back because we were lucky in Leicester,” he said. “Spirit and career and desire of course, but I know our level because I saw it here in front of my eyes for many, many years and I am not going to deny it, the players are not going to deny reality.
“It’s football, sometimes you know that you need a change and something in the mind to recover some aspects and lift the team. This is what I need now and that’s why the win at Leicester was really important. I don’t deny it. “.
