Pep Guardiola is getting by on strength of his past record
It’s possible Pep Guardiola sat down in front of a television last Sunday evening just hours after his Manchester City side lost their FA Cup semifinal against Arsenal.
Had he done so he would have watched his former club Barcelona salvage their La Liga title hopes with a dramatic Clasico triumph over Real Madrid. Lionel Messi’s stoppage time winner surely had Guardiola pining for the good old days. After all, things aren’t going so well for him in England.
Defeat to Arsenal last weekend means Guardiola will finish a season without a trophy for the first time in his managerial career. European soccer’s go-to guy for instant success has failed to deliver instant success in the Premier League. Man City always saw Guardiola as a long-term appointment, but they must be underwhelmed by his first impression.
“Next season, we will be stronger,” Guardiola insisted, puffing out his cheeks and thumping his chest, after the FA Cup loss. “We will improve. With my past, what I have done in my past, the pressure will be on my shoulders until the last day of my career.
“The team does not need to do a lot of things. We have some problems to score but we played like we want. We are sad today, but tomorrow we have to stand up and finish the games we have still to play. We played like we should do it and I have no regrets.”
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Next season, the Blues have to be stronger. Guardiola was hired on the basis that he would impose his trademark style of play on the Etihad Stadium side, but that has yet to materialize. This Man City team is one without an identity. They are not a possession side, nor are they a counter attacking side. Guardiola is a philosopher, so where is his philosophy?
What’s more, City have struggled for results this campaign. With just six games left of the 2016-17 Premier League season Guardiola’s side are scrambling for a place in the top four, with Liverpool and Manchester United scrapping for the same territory. It’s feasible that Man City might not even be in the Champions League next season.
There can be no denying that to date Guardiola has been a disappointment in England. His arrival at Man City was meant to herald a new age for the Premier League, modernizing the country’s national sport in the same way Arsene Wenger did in the 1990s when he came to Arsenal. Yet the Spaniard struggled to even do that at his own club.
For the moment, Guardiola is getting by on the strength of his past record. Had the Catalan not been such an unprecedented success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, winning everything there is to win, he would surely be under intense pressure by now. His future would be under question, but as things stand he has been given an easy ride.
No manager in Europe spent more money than Guardiola did last summer, splurging over £180 million, yet how many of the players signed with that cash have made themselves integral figures at Man City this season? Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Ilkay Gundogan have all made an impression, but not one of them has truly come to embody Guardiola’s ideology. In the transfer market, on the tactics board and on the pitch, he must be better.
Thursday’s derby clash against Manchester United could come to define both teams’ season, but at least Jose Mourinho has the excuse of low expectations to fall back on, while high expectations could impale Guardiola. A defeat would leave City chasing their tails to make the top four. It could be the difference between a disappointing season and a disastrous one.
Manchester City are a club with lofty ambitions and the appointment of Pep Guardiola was symbolic of that. Beyond that symbolism, though, there has been very little to hint at an upward arc. There’s only so long Guardiola can point to what he has done in the past rather than what he is doing now.
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