200TH GAME ‘I could not be in better place’
PEP Guardiola says his only remaining ambition at City is... to beat Crystal Palace today!
The Blues boss clocks up his 200th Premier League game with the visit of Patrick Vieira’s Eagles, and he says he has amazed himself by staying with the club for so long.
Guardiola has been an unprecedented success at City, winning three Premier League titles in the last four years, as well as four League Cups and an FA Cup, and leading them to their first Champions League final.
Winning the big European trophy is the only thing that has eluded him so far, and with his current contract set to expire in 2023 – and all the indicators being that he will leave that summer – time is running out to achieve that.
But when asked what he wants to achieve in the remainder of his time at City, he dodged the elephant in the room nicely.
“A tough thing I would like to live – to win against Crystal Palace,” he said. And he indicated that the mantra of treating every opponent with the same respect, and never looking too far ahead, has served him well.
“I prepare for West Ham in the Carabao Cup like it was Club Brugge last week. I want to beat Palace,” he said.
“I don’t take a look longer. My happiness will not change with thinking about (winning) the Premier League or Champions League or the FA Cup. My happiness depends on if we win against Crystal Palace, that is my only concern.
“It has worked in my career, thinking like this. It’s so important, not to get distracted.”
Now in his sixth season, Guardiola
is the third longest-serving manager in the Premier League behind Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Liverpool rival Jurgen Klopp.
But he says he has surprised himself by clocking up 200 league games at City, for the longest stint by a City manager since Joe Mercer in the Sixties.
“When I arrived here, I never thought I would be here for six seasons,” he said.
“I came, ‘OK, do three seasons and do a good job.’ I don’t know what is going to happen in the future.”
Speculation continues to grow about his future, with Guardiola expressing some doubt that he will manage City for another 200 league games. But he said that he is extremely content at the moment: “I extended the contract because we got results, winning back-toback Premier Leagues and many titles. I couldn’t be in a better place right now. I could not be. I have everything I need to do my job as best as possible. I’m surrounded by fantastic players. All of them.
“Even the guys who can be sad when they understand that they don’t play. I understand them more than they believe.
“I have everything. An incredible backroom staff, the hierarchy support me unconditionally. When we lose we try to find solutions, how we improve to the team.
“I cannot be in a better place for my job, that’s why I extended once, I extended twice. Otherwise I would not be here. This club remains so stable in many things and I’m pretty sure the next step I’m going to take, and whenever I am replaced, the manager will do an exceptional job because the base is there. They know what they have to do to move forward.”
DE BRUYNE DILEMMA
PEP Guardiola’s dilemmas are usually good ones, but how he handles his star midfielder Kevin de Bruyne right now is tough.
The Belgian has been brilliant since joining the Blues, but he has been flat this season after two bad injuries in the summer.
De Bruyne was stop-start against West Ham in midweek, and on form Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva are ahead of him.
But Guardiola also knows that the only way to get De Bruyne right again is to play him ...
FODEN CENTRAL
PHIL Foden could play in any of five or six positions against Palace and make a difference, but at the moment he is not only filling the awkward, unwanted false nine role, but he is also making a success of it.
His two goals at Brighton add to the temptation to pick him there again, which also allows Jack Grealish to continue down the left and for Gabriel Jesus to resume his successful stint on the right.
PENALTY QUESTION
RIYAD Mahrez is likely to be on the bench, so if City get a penalty it will be interesting to see who steps up to take it.
Phil Foden’s miss in the shoot-out at the London Stadium might have turned him off the idea for a while, so the volunteers could come from one of the successful takers in midweek.
Jack Grealish’s willingness to take one was there for all to see, and he backed it up with an unsaveable shot from the spot, but Joao Cancelo and Gabriel Jesus - who also has an unhappy history from the spot for City - also had the courage to take one and the nerve to score.
PAT RETURN
PATRICK Vieira will not be getting any statues at the Etihad Stadium any
time soon, but the part his experienced head and calming influence played in the breakthrough 2010-11 season, when City won the FA Cup to end a 35-year wait for a trophy, is well documented.
His influence was such that he was earmarked as a possible future manager, and by going on to pass his coaching badges and do a fine job with Crystal Palace so far, he has enhanced that possibility.
GIFT OF THE GAB GABRIEL Jesus has worked his way into being a first pick for Guardiola this season, and his stats are backing up the evidence if the eyes as he keeps Mahrez out of the side.
In his last nine Premier League starts, the Brazil star has been involved in nine City goals – scoring three and setting up six.