Guardiola scolds Zinchenko for thoughts of Manchester City quadruple
Pep Guardiola has sought to downplay Manchester City’s hopes of a historic quadruple, pointedly disagreeing with Oleksandr Zinchenko after the left-back said the players have “hungry eyes” when it comes to the challenge. The manager said the prospect of a clean sweep is “a utopia”.
City are already in next month’s Carabao Cup final, they face Everton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, have a 14-point lead in the Premier League and a 2-0 advantage over Borussia Mönchengladbach going into Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
Their results have caused speculation that Guardiola’s side could achieve an unprecedented domination of available trophies by an English club and when Zinchenko was asked about this he said: “Inside the dressing room or inside the team I can see the hungry eyes, everyone is so hungry for the titles and that is what you want.
“This period right now I would say is the most important two months in our careers and especially for players like Sergio Agüero and Fernandinho, who have been here around 10 years each: they deserve it so we are going to try. Like Bayern Munich showed last year – they won everything and the other year [2008-09] Barcelona did it as well with Pep and I think everything is possible. We have an unbelievable squad, the best players in the world, definitely, why not?”
Yet Guardiola upbraided the Ukrainian. “I am older than Mr Zinchenko, I have more experience and I don’t agree with him,” said the 50-year-old manager. “The only thing he has to be worried about is trying to do a good game and try to go through. This is the only way. Four titles is a utopia. “It never happened before and I think it’s never going to happen. We just think about this one, then the next one at Goodison Park, then the international break. Hopefully the players can come back safe and well because we play for important things when they come back, and this is the only important thing.”
Guardiola does accept there is a demand for his squad to win every game: “They have to handle the pressure – to play in this team, at this club, in this organisation, they have to know it’s not nice to lose a game. We have to win and win, that’s for sure. I don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of the season. What we have to do, like we have done since day one, is think about the game we are going to play against Borussia Mönchengladbach. That’s the only thing I’m concerned about.”
Raheem Sterling was left out of the squad for Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Fulham, provoking speculation of a rift between the forward and Guardiola and prompting Sterling to tweet: “Some crazy rumours on socials today … That’s absolutely FALSE. Looking forward to a big week with the team.”
Guardiola said: “He didn’t need to do it – nothing happened. He was not selected, that’s all. Sometimes during the season, for example when we travelled to Stamford Bridge [a 3-1 win on 3 January] we had 14 first-team players and
the rest were from the academy.
“In that position it is easy to make the selection and everybody is happy and involved and committed to do what we have to do. When you have 20 top-class players who have had incredible
success, it will always be unfair on them [to leave one out] – that is the point. I now have 20 players, I trust them, I love them, they are the main reason why we are in the position where we are in the Premier League, Champions League, the final of the Carabao Cup, and quarter-final of the FA
Cup. For that game he was not selected but in another game it was other players.”
The manager has recently spoken of selecting those who are playing for the team and not themselves. He was asked if this was a message directed at his squad. “It is a philosophy of life,” Guardiola
said. “I need arrogance and aggression in their personalities to be better players and become the best players in the world. We need it.”
City have gone 616 minutes since conceding in the Champions League. “This is so important,” Guardiola said. “What we’ve done in the past is good but doesn’t mean it will happen tomorrow. Every game is different – let’s try to minimise mistakes, we know how they can punish us.”
Lee Bowyer has resigned as Charlton manager after being heavily linked with his former club Birmingham. Amid speculation over the future of the St Andrew’s club’s manager, Aitor Karanka, because of their poor form in the Championship, Charlton announced Bowyer had stepped down from his position.
Bowyer left the Valley with the best wishes of Charlton’s owner, Thomas Sandgaard, and said it had been a difficult decision to leave the club where he began both his playing and managerial careers. “Everyone knows how I feel about the club,” Bowyer said in a statement. “I could have gone before but I felt it was the right thing to do to stay and help the club through the tough times we’ve been through.
“We had some amazing times and some tough times. It has been emotional leaving. I’d like to thank all the players that I’ve worked with and the staff for the hours and hours of hard work that they did. I also want to thank the supporters. We wouldn’t have had those great memories without them.
The club is now in a place with a good owner that cares and wants to improve the place and I hope the club can continue to grow. It will always hold a special place in my heart.”
In his three years in charge at Charlton, Bowyer has twice guided the club to the League One play-offs, losing to Shrewsbury before earning promotion 12 months later in the final against Sunderland. Though they suffered relegation last season, going down one point shy of safety, Bowyer kept his job and Charlton go into Tuesday’s home match against Bristol Rovers eighth in the League One table, two points off the play-off places.
Bowyer spent two and a half years at Birmingham as a player between 2009 and 2011, initially on loan from West Ham before securing a permanent move. The Midlands club sit fourth bottom in the Championship, three points above the relegation places, and host promotion-chasing Reading on Wednesday.