Guardiola has that empty feeling again as champs struggle
PERHAPS some people were sunbathing in their gardens at home.
Perhaps others chose to make the most of the warm weather and have a barbecue.
Perhaps Britain’s most expensive footballer Jack Grealish doesn’t tick all the boxes.
Or perhaps those who chose not to go to The Etihad to watch Pep Guardiola’s side don’t have the wit to realise the fact they’ve never had it so good.
Guardiola used his programme notes to offer an olive branch to supporters when he said: “It’s been a huge privilege and pleasure to be the Manchester City manager for every single one of those matches (300).
“Thank you so much for your continued support. It means so much to me, the players and everyone working here.”
Quite frankly Pep, the privilege is all ours.
Since coming to work in English football the Spanish genius has won 10 trophies, including back-to-back titles and four League Cups on the spin.
And he’s done so with a brand of football never seen here before. It has been brilliant and beautiful in equal measure.
But no matter how great the product is Guardiola puts out, he still can’t walk out to a jam-packed stadium.
His comments in the week caused a row with City supporters’ groups, who took exception to Guardiola’s calls for more fans to come to matches.
Kevin Parker, general secretary of City’s official supporters’ club, said the comments were “frustrating”.
Frustrating? Imagine how frustrated Guardiola must feel having given the club the most successful period in their history, a £100million signing and 16 goals in three games before this one, but still not see his footballing home rammed to the rafters?
Guardiola is right to call out fans and bring the issue to attention, because he deserves more respect than what he’s getting.
Southampton might not be the biggest draw in town, but once again there were swathes of empty seats yesterday.
At least those who bothered to turn up showed their love for Guardiola, taking just 70 seconds to break into a chorus of: “We’re glad all over, we’ve got Guardiola.” A call to arms of, “Stand up for the champions”, was also met with gusto.
The same people chose to give Jack Stephens dogs’ abuse as he limped past them, having cheered when he fell to the turf with a torn hamstring. They have one of the best teams in the world but choose to behave like that. Go figure?
It was just a shame Guardiola’s players didn’t have the same enthusiasm on the pitch as their fans had off it.
Lacklustre from start to finish, they struggled to get out of first gear, leaving those who chose to give the game a miss looking like they made the right call.
Guardiola’s men are going to have to do much better than this to stand a chance of having full houses – but let’s face it, even this might still not be enough.