Pep Guardiola vows to learn from English lesson
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola has vowed to bounce back from his worst campaign in management after admitting he was taught a lesson in his first season with Manchester City.
Guardiola was head-hunted by City’s wealthy Abu Dhabi owners following brilliant spells with Barcelona, where he won the Champions League twice, and Bayern Munich, where he completed a hat-trick of Bundesliga title wins.
However, his debut season in the Premier League has hardly gone to plan. Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at leaders Chelsea extinguished any hope of a late title challenge, as well as bringing Guardiola a sixth league defeat in one season for the first time.
The Spaniard now faces a challenge to claim second place ahead of Tottenham and Liverpool, or he will forfeit his record of never having finished outside the first two as a manager.
Guardiola must also lift the FA Cup if he is not to complete a campaign empty-handed for the first time.
All this in a season that saw Guardiola’s team exit the Champions League at the hands of Monaco before the quarter-finals, another new low for the City boss, particularly in the competition that has become the Holy Grail for City’s ambitious owners.
“I will be better, definitely. This season was a lesson for me. It’s normal when you have seven, eight or nine years as a manager to have a season where you don’t have as much success as before,” said Guardiola, whose side meet struggling Hull at Eastlands on Saturday.
“It can happen. You learn from that, you don’t regret that.I never could imagine in Barcelona, Bayern or when I arrived here knowing absolutely everything. I tried to adapt the players as much as possible.
“I did it and I think we will be better. It’s a more interesting year for me as a manager to grow and handle this kind of situation.
“I didn’t complain, I didn’t give up. We have a lot of beautiful things left to fight for this season.”
City are fourth in the table, four points ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United, who both have a game in hand, but crucially seven points adrift of Tottenham in second place, which is Guardiola’s target. — AFP