‘We need to get back on track’
City boss Pep Guardiola demands big improvement from his players. Paul Hirst reports.
WHEN Harry Maguire’s equaliser crashed into the Liverpool net on Wednesday, Manchester City fans up and down the country jumped for joy, but Pep Guardiola did not move a muscle.
The Manchester City manager was not even watching the match.
Instead, he was at the Palace Theatre on Oxford Street in Manchester with Cristina, his wife, and his three children, Valentina, Marius and Maria.
The 1-1 result of Liverpool’s match against Leicester City could have a significant bearing on the Premier League title race, but the night was family time for the Guardiolas, so they went to watch Jersey Boys, the hit musical.
One suspects that Guardiola occasionally checked his phone for updates, but on the whole he wanted the evening off from football. The previous night had been a tough one for the City manager. His team had gone ahead against Newcastle United after 24 seconds, but ended up losing 2-1 away. It would have left them seven points behind Liverpool had England defender Maguire not secured a draw for Leicester at Anfield 24 hours later.
To say that Guardiola was unhappy with his players after the defeat at St James’ Park would be an understatement. According to those within earshot, voices were raised within the away dressing room that night.
Some members of City’s support staff were told to wait outside as Guardiola wanted to hold an inquest into how his team had managed to concede two weak goals. He wanted only a select few present.
Three days on, Guardiola’s mood had not changed much. Liverpool may have failed to take full advantage of City’s slip-up by only drawing against Leicester, but that does not matter to Guardiola. Yes, there is still time for his team to catch Liverpool, but the message from the 48-yearold to his players yesterday was simple: if they play like they did at Newcastle, there is no chance of them retaining the title.
‘‘The [Liverpool result] is much better, but immediately I’d say how is our level? If our level is the same as the last game, it doesn’t matter if [the gap is] five points or two points, or one point, we are not going to win [the league],’’ Guardiola said.
‘‘If we don’t see what we have to do, no, we will not be contenders until the end. We have to improve our game, that’s the issue.’’
Guardiola is demanding a big improvement from his team because he knows just how crucial the next eight days will be in determining whether the Premier League title ends up in the trophy room at Anfield or the Etihad Stadium come the evening of May 12. After hosting Arsenal tomorrow, City face Everton at Goodison Park on Thursday before taking on Chelsea at home four days later.
If City win all three games, the worst-case scenario is that they will be two points behind Liverpool, who have no midweek fixture. Instead, Liverpool travel to play West Ham United on Tuesday before taking on Bournemouth at Anfield five days later.
Guardiola was annoyed by his team’s failure to break down Newcastle’s rigid and compact defence, but otherwise he was giving little away about the areas in which he feels that City need to improve.
‘‘We need to get back on track, our principles . . . they know what they have to do,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s simple things, a few things we have to go back to do it . . . little details.
‘‘Many details we didn’t do quite well. Of course we analyse, we talk about our game and see what we have to improve, like the way we have to attack some defensive structures like Newcastle, but it will be different against Arsenal.’’
What is clear from the outside is that City are not as clinical as they were last season. That may seem an odd assertion to make when they have scored 63 goals this season – eight more than anyone else – in 24 league matches, but their accuracy has dipped this term. Last season they averaged 2.79 goals per game compared to 2.63 this term. City’s shooting accuracy has also diminished, with 38 per cent of their shots hitting the target rather than 40 per cent.
At the other end of the pitch, their inability to deal with high balls into the box has been a problem. A simple lob into the penalty area caused three City defenders to panic against the Toon, while Salomon Rondon, the Newcastle striker, kept his cool and bounced the ball past Ederson for the equaliser.
Despite the disappointment of the past week, Guardiola insists that he has no doubts about his squad’s desire to win the Premier League and lift the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao (League) Cup, where they take on Chelsea in the final.
‘‘Of course we are not happy about our last performance [against Newcastle],’’ Guardiola said. ‘‘Everybody knows [that]. We knew immediately at halftime, and after the game we knew that, but without the motivation we would not be here where we are in all [four] competitions.’’
Guardiola was dismissive of the idea that a tweet from Kyle Walker, the City right fullback, in which he made light of Liverpool’s failure to beat Leicester, would give the Merseyside club more motivation to win the league.
‘‘I’m not concerned about social media of the players,’’ he said. ‘‘The opponents won’t be [motivated by] one tweet or another.’’
Guardiola said he had ‘‘no idea’’ when Vincent Kompany, the 32-year-old centre back, would be available again. The City captain has not been fit for selection since the 2-1 win over Liverpool on January 3.
THE TIMES, LONDON