Pep: I’ll lose my job if we don’t win trophies
PEP Guardiola admits his Bayern Munich reign was considered a disaster.
And he accepts he will pay the price if he fails to meet the expectations of City’s Abu Dhabi owners.
With the Premier League title now surely out of reach – following Wednesday’s goalless draw with Stoke – the FA Cup represents Guardiola’s best chance of silverware in his first season in English football.
Should City overcome Middlesbrough this lunchtime, they can look forward to a Wembley semifinal.
Guardiola describes the coming week as pivotal – with City facing Monaco in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday, defending a 5-3 lead.
The club’s demanding owners have given him the freedom to overhaul his squad and build for the long term.
It means that for now he is operating under less scrutiny that his predecessors Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini – but he knows that ultimately the demands are the same.
“If I have no silverware, I will not be here for a long time,” said Guardiola. “Being a manager depends on results, but I always believe deep in my heart that results depend on the way you play.
“That’s why I need to be convinced that we’re playing better every day. I know how it was after six or seven months here together with my periods at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. “We will be judged on the results. “No silverware, it will not be a good season. I knew that in August.”
Guardiola is accustomed to working under those conditions after taking charge of two of the giants of European football in Barcelona and Bayern.
At Bayern he won three consecutive titles and two German cups but he says the lack of a Champions League triumph led critics to declare his tenure a failure. “My period in Munich was judged like a disaster because we were not able to win the Champions League,” he said. “I won three leagues in a row, we won two cups from three, we arrive all the times in the semi-finals and finals – it was a disaster. “So I have to handle that. That’s why I am open. What I can say, is try to play better, better, better, than the previous month. “That’s what I want to see for the next year, be better.” A trophy would be a handy measure of City’s progress under Guardiola, which is why the coming days will be potentially season defining. “It is an important week,” he added. “We have done a good job in the past - especially in two competitions - but we are doing quite well in the Premier League as well. “But of course this week is so, so important. “These three games will decide what’s going to happen in the next two months – definitely.”
We will be judged on results. No silverware, it will not be a good season. I knew that in August. Pep Guardiola