Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne reacts after Feyenoord’s David Hancko scores his team’s third goal. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
After another disappointing performance for Man City, this time in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola’s methods have been questioned by former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore.
Losing five games in a row for the first time in his managerial career was bad enough, but to be 3-0 up against Feyenoord in the Champions League with less than 20 minutes to go, only to draw 3-3, has really been . put a spoke in the works regarding City’s chances of winning the first European trophy again.
Is Pep Guardiola still ready to fight?
For a team that looked unbeatable just a few weeks ago, they now look… well, ordinary, and Guardiola even oddly suggested that he wanted to hurt himself after the latest debacle. He went on to point out that the The Premier League title race would be over if things continued in the same vain.
Clearly, something has to change, and Collymore has raised the possibility that Guardiola may not have it to keep City at the top of domestic and European football.
“It is very simple. Football goes in cycles. It happened to Wenger, it happened to Ferguson, it happened to Sacchi and it’s happened to every manager who’s been at a club for more than five or six years,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“Two or three things happen. First, the coach becomes less passionate because younger coaches like Amorim enter with the desire to go out on the training ground like Pep at Barcelona. In Pep’s case, his agitation and constant need for perfection has a shelf life.
“Just as a great rock band would like to think they can play Wembley Stadium forever, the reality is that your powers wane. You get older, you get less capable.
“Very serious issue” – says Pep Guardiola – READ MORE!
“Secondly, sometimes players need new voices and encouragement in the dressing room. Like Jurgen Klopp when he left Liverpool, people thought any new man couldn’t match Klopp’s personality, but Arne Slot comes in with a different voice and methodology, and so far he’s very good about it. working
“Thirdly, everyone knows Man City are an aging team. Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne… it’s a squad that’s creaking at the seams.
“(…) With so many decent caliber managers in the Premier League now (Amorim, Slot, Iraola, Emery etc), the bigger question is whether Pep still has the internal belief, energy and will to win now who has signed this new two-year contract?”
Guardiola has always been regarded as the best manager of his generation, so it must be a boring watch to see him struggle with the same problems that his contemporaries tend to do.
It’s uncharted territory for him, although he can be safe in the knowledge that if drastic action is required, his club will support his every whim.
Also, another chance at salvation is just days away, and if City can go on another of their epic winning streaks, they will soon forget about the current situation.
