Pep Guardiola admits he is to blame for Manchester City's slump this season – but said he is relishing the challenge of making them great again.
City's chances of winning three Premier League titles in a row are looking remote, with Guardiola's side trailing leaders Arsenal by eight points, one game shy of the halfway stage of the season. Guardiola - who turned 52 on Wednesday - accepted culpability for his side's failure to match their high standards of recent years and said he must find a solution to their problems before fans start getting on his back.
"I would prefer to be eight points in front than behind," said Guardiola, whose City side have lost back-to-back games. "But I like to handle this situation though, I love it.
"When I say I like it, it's because it makes me feel I have to come back again and have to find something to help the team get better, because I'm the man responsible. So, when the players don’t play well and they have the desire to do it, it’s because there's something wrong in my decisions and I have to find it.
"In the past, in the final third, we’ve had incredible movements in small areas and in the last games we didn’t have it. I would say that’s my fault. I didn’t make them understand the way we have to attack. Sometimes, I didn’t choose the players properly or it's the way we play.
"Here, people don’t wait. When I die, people will talk about how good Pep was, that’s for sure, but now people expect us to perform well and win games.
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"Otherwise it's 'Pep out' - this is how our job is - and I want 'Pep in', I want to stay here. That's what I want and to do that I have to win games, I have to be there in all competitions."
Guardiola dismissed the notion City are struggling because they have to play with a recognised striker in Erling Haaland rather than a false nine, as they have done in recent seasons. Haaland has 27 goals this season, with Guaridola claiming other players have to step up and improve the service to him if he is to start scoring again, after drawing a blank in his last three games
“For Erling to score goals, we have to play better, improve our game, our principles,” said Guardiola. “The shape we played and the way we played in the last two games didn’t help Erling to score.
“We had too many players outside and too few players inside; without players inside you cannot defend or play well. This is mainly the problem. In the middle or the final third, you have to have players. If Erling is alone there, we're not going to score goals, it’s impossible.”
