PEP IS A LION HEART
Big game at the top... and the bottom I’ll help England’s World Cup bid, says City boss OVER JANUARY FIXTURE PILE-UP
eventual champions Chelsea. The 46-year-old is happy that attitudes towards him have changed – but he admits he has made mistakes.
“Everyone follows the winners,” Guardiola said. “Last season when we didn’t win, people didn’t follow me. This season, now we are winning, they follow me.
“It was important for me to adjust and we also bought new players.
“But what I must say is that the players who don’t play regularly are exceptional human beings.
“We can’t create something special with people who don’t play regularly and create problems with bad faces and bad behaviour.
“If that happens, forget about it. They cannot stay there.”
Guardiola added: “We played with nine of the same players last season – so something happened last year that wasn’t good. I have said to my staff that there was something we missed because we play with many of the same players.
“It’s not like we have changed seven or eight players.
“Of course, we know each other better and sometimes you need more time to adjust and analyse your players.
“But last season, for example, I never thought about playing Fabian Delph in t hat position as a full-back.
“Now people say ‘brilliant Pep, how talented he is’.
“But why didn’t I do it last season?
“I a s k myself question all the time.” tie to squeeze in if they beat Burnley before entertaining West Brom on January 31.
It is new territory for Guardiola and he admitted: “I am worried about January because we are in four competitions and I don’t know if we will be able to do it.
“We have to be careful because of the schedule. We cannot play every three days at our best. I’m not just t hat talking about the Premier League. We have Bristol City in the Carabao Cup. They are not a Premier League team but we have to be careful because something is going on there.
“We cannot play someone like Kevin De Bruyne (left) every three days for 90 minutes because the players need to be refreshed for the last part of the season.
“I have never lived before a quadruple situation. I have challenged for three trophies many times, but never for four.”
City are also through to the last 16 of the Champions League – and face Basel over two legs in February and March. But Guardiola is backing his team to cope with the pressure.
He said: “Everybody dreams of winning. When that happens, anything can happen.” ROY HODGSON has hailed Raheem Sterling for showing a maturity that has taken his game to another level.
Crystal Palace manager Hodgson knows the 23-year-old well from their time together at Liverpool and with England.
And he will be hoping Sterling will be a bit more like his old self than his new self today when he and the rest of Manchester City’s freescoring frontline descend on Selhurst Park looking to extend their incredible run of 18 consecutive Premier League victories.
Hodgson said: “The thing is that when players burst on to the scene very young like Raheem did, everyone starts to rave about them and talk about their potential, and it can very often work against them.
“They need time to get the matches under their belt, time to get the maturity. And last season I began to see signs of his maturity.
“What I am seeing now is a player who still has the same level of ability, the same pace.
“But what I am also seeing is a much more mature individual who is seeing what being a top Premier League player in a top Premier League team is about.
“What he has done is added goals to his game – by getting into the penalty box a lot more often and that must be credit to the work the club are doing with him.”
Hodgson has played a huge part in Sterling’s development. He added: “Raheem trained with the first team when I got to Liverpool.
“I gave him his Liverpool debut in a friendly against Borussia Moenchengladbach when he was 15, and I gave him his debut with England as well. Have I been surprised by the impact he has made this season? No, not at all.” Sterling was one of the England players who, along with Hodgson, copped flak in the fallout from the Three Lions’ defeat by Iceland at Euro 2016.
But Hodgson has no sympathy for Sterling or any of his team-mates.
He said: “If you want to play for England that is par for the course. Once you put the England shirt on, get ready for abuse. You also get a lot of praise and I am sure he has handled that perfectly well.
“He has a very bright England