PEP: I’D RATHER QUIT CITY THAN CHANGE
Guardiola defiant after bad run
PEP GUARDIOLA insists he would quit Manchester City and go home to Spain before changing his ways. City were beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in midweek after Guardiola kept top scorer Sergio Aguero on the bench and then saw Claudio Bravo, the man he signed to replace England goalkeeper Joe Hart, sent off.
The City boss has failed to win in four games and faces Southampton at the Etihad tomorrow with questions being asked about his methods for the first time.
But Guardiola steadfastly refused to compromise and pointed to a decorated career with Barcelona and Bayern Munich as an endorsement of his philosophy. ‘No, I’m not going to change,’ he said. ‘(If) it’s not going well in the future, (if) next season isn’t going well in that way, I will go home.
‘That is why Manchester City called me, to try to play in the way I believe with the players that I have. I feel that they follow me. When they don’t follow me I will speak with the club.
‘I’m responsible for what happened on Wednesday. My decision was Sergio Aguero. We lost 4-0. I’m guilty. We win in Barcelona, I’m a genius. When you lose 4-0, welcome to the critics. Move on.’
Asked if he ever considers changing, Guardiola replied: ‘You would like that, yes? I think about that, yeah. But the solution is not better than what I believe, so I cannot.
‘ Do you know why as well? Because in seven years I won 21 titles. I’m sorry guys. It’s three titles a year playing in that way.
‘But if you believe I arrive here and in three months everything is going well and I’m going to win 4-0 in the Camp Nou, I’m going to dominate against (Lionel) Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, and (Andres) Iniesta isn’t going to play good, no. I’m good, but it’s not enough.
‘Barcelona have been playing that way for 15 years. To achieve what they achieve, we need decades. (Johann) Cruyff started when he arrived in 1989. It’s the same in my case. It works in Bayern Munich, it works in Barcelona, it’s not working here. The players are completely different, they need time to know that. Four games without victory, it’s part of the process.’
Guardiola insisted that captain Vincent Kompany was left out of City’s 18-man squad at the Nou Camp because he was ‘not perfectly fit’. And he cast further doubt over the Belgian’s future at the Etihad by suggesting that Kompany has been mentally scarred by two years decimated by injury.
He said: ‘I thought two or three days ago for Camp Nou, maybe he can do that. But one day after, in the training session here, he said “I didn’t feel like this”. In that moment, when his head is not ready, (and with) what happened in the last two years it’s better to stay out.’
Guardiola also tried to ease concerns over any issue with Aguero, who did not warm up in the Nou Camp after being told he was starting on the bench.
Aguero is understood to have signed a new contract until 2020, and the City boss said it would be the striker’s choice, not the club’s, if he leaves before then.
‘If Sergio decides to leave Manchester City, it will be his decision,’ added Guardiola, who has demanded more from Aguero this season even though he has scored 11 goals in 10 games.