Pep will not rest and Gunners get his full attention
FOR a perfectionist like Pep Guardiola, even the afterglow of Wednesday’s impressive Champions League win in Napoli lasted only 24 hours before intense planning started for today’s visit of Arsenal, the last team to beat his Manchester City team back in April.
‘You can’t live on what you’ve done in this sport. Every day you have to prove yourself,’ said Guardiola, whose intensity was legendary at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
‘We enjoyed our dinner that night in Napoli, then the next day the training session was better, everything was better.
‘But the second day in Napoli is gone. It’s Arsenal. What they do, how we can control, high pressing, what to do to make sure Alexis (Sanchez) doesn’t get the ball, what to do with (Aaron) Ramsey arriving in the box, the movement of (Alexandre) Lacazette.’
It’s a quote that Sir Alex Ferguson — who famously demanded his trophy-winning stars always look forward rather than back — would have been proud of.
City haven’t been beaten for 22 matches since Arsene Wenger’s 5-4-1 flummoxed them in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley which the Gunners won 2-1.
After some key summer signings like Kyle Walker, City have won 14 of 16 games this season and the praise has been so fulsome, it’s a wonder they aren’t being backed for the Grand National and Boat Race.
But if you wanted anyone to wage a one-man war on complacency, it would be Guardiola, whose joy at City’s form this season is in contrast to the despair he feels about what is going on back home in his beloved Catalonia.
On the football, he says about City’s current purple patch: ‘Our confidence is good now but there are a lot of things to come.
‘People can say there is a big chance to be champions if we carry on playing this way but who knows if that can happen? No one can tell me for sure. Chelsea were the champions last season. If we want to get it this season, we have to fight. In January, February, March, every month.’
Not that Guardiola wants to be seen as curmudgeonly, given his team are scoring at a rate the Premier League has never seen before of more than three goals a game.
Players like Kevin De Bruyne are queuing up to proclaim how much they love playing for Guardiola.
‘That gives me the most pride. The most,’ added the coach. ‘It wouldn’t be any good to win the title and the players are unhappy with the way we play.’
Understandably as we are still in early November, he is dampening talk of historic Trebles and unbeaten seasons, saying Wenger’s Invincibles should rest easy about their record, and describing a clean sweep of League, FA Cup and Champions League as ‘an exceptional situation’ albeit one he achieved with Barca.
With Sergio Aguero breaking City’s all-time goalscoring record and De Bruyne already one of the favourites to be Footballer of the Year, Guardiola wants to spread the love around.
‘One of the best three holding midfielders in the world,’ he describes Fernandinho. ‘With his mentality, he gives us a lot.’
In other words, a player who won’t be thinking of a glorious 4-2 win in Naples when he steps out on to the pitch against Arsenal.