Now Manchester City can call themselves club world champions for the first time. In the event that the club wins the treble like last season, Guardiola has bad news for the fans.
After winning the Club World Cup, Josep Guardiola is flirting with leaving Manchester City as manager. But then everything turns out well.
Jose Breton / Imago
Josep Guardiola sounded like he was about to resign as Manchester City manager. After winning the Club World Cup on Friday, which followed a pre-season treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, he said his work was done. He and his team had won all sorts of trophies and there was nothing left to win. The 4-o final win against Fluminense feels as if “a chapter has been written to the end”.
But it’s not that bad: Guardiola will not resign, but, as he promises, will write a new book.
Manchester City is weakening in the championship – Guardiola refers to the “hangover”
With his remarks, the coach wanted to see the mission associated with his employment in Manchester in the summer of 2016 of leading the club to the top of Europe as fulfilled. And certainly also spur on his team, which has been weak in the first half of the season. In the Premier League, City had only won one of the last six games – before the Club World Cup date in Saudi Arabia, which is important for the Abu Dhabi-based club.
Josep Guardiola at the media conference after winning the Club World Cup.
Youtube
After three draws against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, City lost at Aston Villa, won with difficulty after coming from behind at newly promoted Luton Town and then drew again against Crystal Palace despite a two-goal lead in their own stadium. This results in a balance sheet that reads quite hungover before Everton FC’s re-entry into the league on Wednesday: 5th place and 34 points after 17 games, fewer than ever at this point under Guardiola.
Sky experts Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher recently assumed City were comfortable after three Premier League titles in a row. Guardiola did not put up with the accusation. He reacted irritably and countered that Carragher had not won the championship once during his time with Liverpool FC.
And Neville himself knows too well how complicated it is to win four English championship titles in a row – he never managed to do this with Manchester United. In his autobiography, Neville once admitted that after the three titles between 1999 and 2001 it was difficult not to become complacent. He dedicated an entire chapter to the consequences of the triple in 1999 – title: “The Hangover”, the hangover after the high.
Has City become comfortable? Guardiola’s answer to Neville and Carragher.
Youtube
In fact, the Citizens can hardly be accused of negligence in their services. The players seem committed and focused. However, the statics of possession-based dominance football have changed since the start of the season. The reason: The highly praised midfield has lost its rhythm.
The captain Ilkay Gündogan moved to Barcelona, the playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has been out injured for months, the stabilizer John Stones is constantly injured, and the clearer Rodri was suspended in all four defeats of the season – and now had to give up in the final of the Club World Cup in the final phase injured by a dangerous tackle.
The newcomers cost horrendously, but they are sitting on the bench
City tried to compensate for the failures with new players. The club brought in Kalvin Phillips from Leeds in the summer of 2022 and, before this season, Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton – for an impressively overpriced 140 million euros. Together they have only started eleven times in the league so far. Against Palace, everyone was on the bench recently, and Guardiola only made one change: in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
In an attempt to further develop the team, City wanted to expand their game to include so-called ball-carriers who can free themselves under pressure and drive the ball forward at their feet. The most distinctive player of this type is the wing specialist Jérémy Doku, who was sold from Stade Rennes for another 60 million euros.
But unsurprisingly, these players prefer to dribble the ball more than pass it. In combination with rather impatient players like the offensive all-rounder Phil Foden and the goalscorer Erling Haaland, this makes the City attacks quite rapid, sometimes spectacular. Even now, Guardiola’s team has scored the most goals in the league.
This was Erling Haaland’s first season for Manchester City.
Youtube
But this type of football seems to be taking more from the champions than giving. City’s style of play seems more like hectically shaken than patiently stirred. The resulting ball losses cause the team to repeatedly lose control. There were twelve goals conceded in six recent league games. This raises the question of whether Guardiola will continue to advance his team’s evolution in the second half of the season – or take a step back.
The Catalan has the club’s full support for both options. And he himself assures that he continues to feel motivated to take on the challenge. However, if he and his team repeat last season’s treble, Guardiola announced, he would definitely quit.
