The frustrated manager faces a grilling after his cast of stars sleepwalk out of the Champions League at the hands of MonacoAttack is only the best form of defence if a side attack. This truism haunted the ultimate shock‑and‑awe manager, Pep Guardiola, as Manchester City sleepwalked out of the Champions League.Listless, confidence-shot, just not good enough: the list to describe City until they finally seemed to wake up before Leroy Sané’s 71st-minute goal is not pretty reading for them. Related: Monaco’s Tiemoué Bakayoko condemns Manchester City to away-goal defeat Related: Monaco 3-1 Manchester City (agg 6-6): Champions League last 16, second leg – as it happened Continue reading...
The Catalan has not had the easiest start in England but the manner of his side’s dispatching of Middlesbrough suggests his ideology is starting to take holdPep Guardiola’s eyes sparkled with the evangelical glint of a conviction politician. Manchester City’s manager does not care much for consensus, compromise or pragmatism and his barely contained post-match excitement at Middlesbrough reflected the Catalan’s belief that his philosophy is, once again, being vindicated. Related: Manchester City and David Silva catch Middlesbrough cold to reach semi Continue reading...
The Argentinian may see himself in the shop window rather than with a long-term City future but four goals in his last two outings speak for his sharpnessSergio Agüero was able to bask in the rare glow of unstinting praise after helping take Manchester City’s goal haul to 13 in three rounds of the FA Cup and, though the opposition was only Championship-level and it is always in a manager’s interests to emphasise the positives rather than dwell on the negatives, Pep Guardiola seemed to be winning another battle. Related: Sergio Agüero set for showdown June talks on future with Manchester City Related: Sunderland v Manchester City: match preview Continue reading...
Manchester City’s manager went through the full range of emotions on a night when reckless defending by his side and Monaco produced a thrillerIt is perhaps a measure of how uncomfortable Manchester City still are on the European stage that Pep Guardiola chose life and death imagery in his pre-match assessment. While relaxed insouciance is what the manager generally aims for, he hardly struck that tone when observing Monaco had “killers” in the box in Radamel Falcao and Valère Germain, or noting glumly that critics would “kill” his City side if they did not succeed.This is almost certainly not the can-do, positive approach City thought they would be getting when employing the former coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, although...
The failings of the exiled Joe Hart’s replacements, Claudio Bravo and Willy Caballero, surely demand a rethink from Pep Guardiola for next seasonIt is probably safe to assume Pep Guardiola did not appreciate the impertinence of being asked at his latest press conference whether, six months into the season, he could understand why so many football people were questioning whether the decision to marginalise and replace Joe Hart had shown even the greatest managers can make mistakes.A similar question was asked of Sinisa Mihajlovic, the manager of Torino, earlier this season and you didn’t have to read too far between the lines to find a thinly disguised layer of scorn from the man who took Hart to Serie A. “Guardiola...