Repudiating any suggestion Manchester City are having a wobble, Pep Guardiola has declared his pride at what his team have already achieved this season and urged them to enjoy the run-in as they pursue trophies on three fronts.
City’s lead over Liverpool at the top of the Premier League has been trimmed from 14 points to one and they have failed to score in their past two matches in all competitions, a drought by their standards. On Sundaythey face a testing FA Cup sixth-round tie at particularly pesky opponents, with Southampton having drawn with them twice in the league this season. Guardiola says he wants his players to relish the high stakes.
“These are the moments why we are here,” he said. “This is why we watched the Champions League draw together [on Friday]. We have fought since pre-season to arrive here. It makes me happy. Everyone wants to win already but the run we have been on to be where we are now makes me so proud. My expectations are so high but, at the same time, during the process I am satisfied.
“We went to Peterborough [in the last round of the FA Cup] and we won and now we are going to Southampton. I congratulate the players and say ‘well done, good job’. Because I know how difficult it is.
“I try to say to the club ‘enjoy these moments during the season. Don’t wait to win the Premier League, the Champions League or the FA Cup to be happy. Enjoy the day, enjoy the moment.
“Like in Europe, enjoy being one of the elite clubs. Because one day maybe you will not be here. You will be out of the Champions League at the group stage or the last 16. Qualifying for the Champions League is difficult. People who believe you have to do that are wrong, that is a bad, bad message. Staying in the Champions League is a huge success, enormous. People say ‘no’ but you have to do a lot of good things to get there.”
Guardiola said there is no reason for him or his players to worry about their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace in their last outing. “Dropping points against Palace can happen. People believe – I don’t know why – that because we’re Manchester City we have to be 10 points clear of Liverpool. I don’t buy it. I know how difficult it is. How we behaved against Palace and how we will behave against Southampton, that’s what counts.
“We don’t have to find explanations for something for which there is no explanation. One day a player puts the ball in the top corner from 20 yards, another day he misses the goal from five metres. Why? Because it’s football. Don’t find explanations for that.”
Guardiola does, however, have an explanation for why Southampton have managed to frustrate his team twice this season, drawing 0-0 at the Etihad in September and 1-1 at St Mary’s in January. “Because they are good,” he said. “They are one of the intense teams, the rhythm they play with, their quality, their manager, their players.”
That manager, Ralph Hasenhüttl, would pay to watch Sunday’s opponents and is looking forward to taking them on. Regardless of the result, he expects to learn something. “You take massive things out of his games,” the Austrian said of Guardiola. “When you can imagine about a challenge for a manager, this is the biggest one definitely.
“Hopefully we see a really good Cup game and I am sure we will because it is two teams that want to play football, two teams that want to create chances, that are looking for an intense way of playing football.
“They are so fantastic to watch – if I was a football fan, I would go there for sure.”
