Guardiola knows team is everything in football

PEP Guardiola was not about to start grasping at the straws being proffered to him over City’s Premier League season.

The Blues were a country mile behind champions Liverpool, and the fact that Raheem Sterling had scored twice, at Vicarage Road, to close the gap on Jamie Vardy in the race for the Golden Boot did not register on the manager’s personal Richter scale.

Apart from gaining some momentum for the Champions League clash with Real Madrid, the collective goal of scoring 100 goals, and a few individual landmarks, City had little to play for at Watford.

But Guardiola’s reaction to a question about Sterling’s personal quest to catch the Leicester striker – and hit 30 goals in a season for the first time – got short shrift.

“It’s important for Raheem to score a goal but we cannot forget we finished far away from the champions so this season was not good for us in the Premier League,” he said.

Guardiola, perhaps also a little irritated that Sterling had grabbed the ball for a penalty ahead of usual taker Kevin De Bruyne in his pursuit of personal glory – and promptly missed it before knocking in the rebound – was having none of it.

“I love when the players can achieve their desires and score goals and have the commitment to score goals,” he said. “I like it, I cannot say anything else. But Raheem has to know like all of us have to know that we were far away from Liverpool.”

Then Guardiola was called upon, on the final day, to hand the Premier League’s Golden Glove award to Ederson and the Playmaker of the Year statuette to De Bruyne.

He fixed his grin and afterwards genuinely praised both men. Of course, Guardiola is not averse to his players winning individual honours - he gave a barbed response to the prospect of Jordan Henderson being named Footballer of the Year, pointing out that a Liverpool player had also won it when City won the league by a mile.

Pep knows that winning major team honours, but being snubbed for the individual awards, is a reflection of his football philosophy. Team is everything, individuals should submerge their egos in the drive for the greater good.