PEP: ONE DEFEAT & IT’S GONE
PEP GUARDIOLA has warned his Manchester City players they are just one defeat away from seeing their Quadruple dream perish.
City go into today’s Manchester derby on course to lift the title for the third time in four seasons.
They meet Tottenham in next month’s Carabao Cup final, have an FA Cup quarter-final date with Everton and are well placed to reach the last eight of the Champions League after beating Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0.
But boss Guardiola refuses to talk about his team making history and he revealed how a fear of failure has been the driving force behind a record 21-game winning run.
He said: “In the cups, in the Champions League, it can take one game and you are out.
“That has to be the warning, to be careful, to keep your feet on the grass and move forward.
“Sometimes, when you are fighting for the Premier League for a long time, you also become incredibly focused on the other competitions.
“But sometimes, when you win something, you can drop a little bit and it is more difficult.
“I said to the guys recently the only way to arrive at the best moment in the cups and the league is to be focused all the time.
“At the moment it is going well, everything is perfect and City are winning. But we could do the same and lose. The most important thing in world football is that when everyone says something is going to happen, normally it doesn’t.
“We are good. We’ve had incredible results and got a lot of points – winning 15 games in a row in the Premier League is incredible.
“But let’s try to extend the run. You are only so good when you are focused only on the next game.”
City will set a new club record of 29 unbeaten games – if they avoid defeat today.
And while Guardiola admitted he has been sleeping much better since Tottenham became the last team to beat City on November 21, he insists he will not make a final judgement until the end of the season.
He added: “I told the players what we have done is incredible – but only after we have won the title can we say, ‘That’s it’.
“For the last three months, every night you sleep better and every day you train better because, if you win, it gives everyone confidence. These three months belong to us.”