PEP’S HAPPY TO DO IT HARD WAY
MAN CITY v ARSENAL
PEP GUARDIOLA will have to make his own history to win the Premier League this season – because he’s never won a title after coming from behind. Guardiola’s championshipwinning teams at Barcelona and Bayern Munich were always leading from the front in the final stages. But with Liverpool five points ahead, he admits he’ll have to do something he’s never done before to win back-to-back League crowns at Manchester City.
“In the past I think we were always in front, always as leader,” says the Spaniard. “So maybe a new experience, yes, a new challenge.”
But leading from the front or making up ground would give him equal satisfaction in pipping Liverpool to the title, adding: “Both ways is good! I prefer to be like last season but we know that is exceptional. The satisfaction would be the same, of course, if you win.
“The players know exactly why we are a strong team. To come from behind would be nice. But I cannot say how I am going to feel and the satisfaction when still I haven’t felt it the way of overtaking the leader.
“The pressure comes day by day. That is why I like the Premier League. You have to play as good as possible to win games in the way you want to play. That is the pleasure I have and we feel as a team and as a manager. The titles are a consequence of that.”
Guardiola hopes his stars can bounce back from defeat at Newcastle as Arsenal arrive at the Etihad today.
Captain Vincent Kompany was missing at St James’ Park but Guardiola insists City have enough leaders when the chips are down: “I have a lot of leaders, people who make a step forward when the situations are going bad but they have to do it again and again.
“You cannot force a player to be vocal if that is something he doesn’t feel. I met incredible players that didn’t speak one word off the pitch yet in the game expresses themselves with a lot of character. And I saw a lot of players who speak a lot in the locker room: ‘I want to do that’ and afterwards on the pitch they feel the pressure and don’t want the ball.
“There are so many of these kinds. We can do more, of course, myself the first, but we have enough personalities to be okay.”