Sorry Pep, this isn’t progress!
A PENNY for the thoughts of Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
The City chairman was in attendance at the Stade Louis II to watch on as Pep Guardiola’s side were overwhelmed by a rampant Monaco.
No disrespect to the French league leaders – who have been a breath of fresh air in this season’s Champions League – but Guardiola was not installed to lose to the likes of them. Not in the last 16. And not like this. Manuel Pellegrini’s European hopes were ended by Barcelona, twice, and Real Madrid in his three years at the Etihad.
In two of those seasons City went out to the eventual winners – yet those defeats to the Spanish giants were served up as an example of the Chilean’s failure to take the club to the heights their Abu Dhabi owners demand.
Pellegrini had already lost his job by the time City went out 1-0 in the Bernabeu in last season’s semi-final – but the manner in which his team froze at the home of Real alarmed Al Mubarak and owner Sheikh Mansour.
“You can win and you can lose – but you want to at least feel that you gave it 100 per cent and I don’t think we gave it 100 per cent,” Mubarak later said.
So what would he have made of the first 45 minutes on the French Riviera?
City were shell-shocked by a Monaco side shorn of their leading scorer, Radamel Falcao, before kick-off.
They had no answer to an onslaught by Kylian Mbappe, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy – who had already served notice of their considerable threat in a first leg that ended 5-3 in City’s favour.
The Blues failed to register a single shot on target in a chastening first half.
Guardiola warned that a two-goal advantage would not be enough, and he was as good as his word.
That remarkable admission in the heady moments following the first leg set the tone for what happened in France.
It was an acceptance that he couldn’t set up a team to reduce Monaco to less than two goals. And at this level, that simply isn’t good enough. Would Antonio Conte say likewise? And what if those words and that performance had come from Pellegrini and his side?
This is a rebuilding job for Guardiola – but he took charge of a team that reached the last four in the Champions League last season and has spent over £150m embellishing it.
Al Mubarak and Mansour would be within their rights to ask how much the club has advanced since a Fernando own goal cost them in the Bernabeu last May.
Out of the title race by the turn of the year and out of Europe before the clocks go forward, Guardiola is clinging to success in the FA Cup to have anything tangible to show for his first season in charge.
He will be handed the funds to continue his squad overhaul this summer, with a number of those on show in red and white on Wednesday night sure to be in his sights.
But City didn’t pursue the former Barca and Bayern Munich manager for four years just to play supermarket sweep.
There is much more to management than that.
At times there have been tantalising glimpses of Guardiola’s vision of the future – but City’s frailties have been shocking for a manager of his pedigree.
The rumblings have already begun among supporters – even if only on social media so far.
But a murmuring could turn into a groundswell if City don’t end the season on a high.
It may well be a case of one step back and two forward – but fail to win the FA Cup this season and Guardiola will be starting the new campaign firmly on the back foot.
Guardiola is clinging to success in the FA Cup for something tangible from his first season in charge James Robson