EPL has a way of turning real men into boys

By Edwin Herenga | 7yrs ago | 3 min read

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is suffering the worst run of his managerial career.

Manchester City’s defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, a series of drwas and the recent 4-2 loss to Leicester means Pep Guardiola is now on the worst run of his managerial career.

The man who arrived in England with a CV the envy of every coach on the planet is now having his credentials seriously questioned.

He won three La Liga titles and two Champions League with Barcelona, while his Bayern Munich side swept all before them in the Bundesliga.

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Billed as the coach to show the Premier League how to play football, his City side have not won a game since beating Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on September 24.

Guardiola made nine changes from the side that dropped points at home to Southampton on Sunday. Regardless of where the League Cup sits in the priorities of the City boss, the fact is City are on their worst run since December 2008.

It’s also the worst since Sheikh Mansour pumped his billions into the club three months earlier.

Pep has another tricky test on Saturday when City face West Brom at the Hawthorns. Baggies boss Tony Pulis will certainly have a plan in place to ruffle the feathers of the title favourites.

After winning 1o games on the bounce at the start of the season, there were suggestions by some City would go the whole season unbeaten and match the Arsenal invincibles of 2004.

The Guardiola philosophy was always going to endure it’s toughest test in England, the test is now here but his teams have overcome setbacks before.

His Barca side in 2008 went five games without a win, however the Catalans bounced back to win La Liga, Copa Del Ray and the Champions League, beating Manchester United 2-0 in Rome.

Taking over at Bayern Munich from Jupp Heynckes in 2013, he won the Bundesliga but his side failed in Europe.

Manchester City’s lengthy chase of the 45-year-old Spaniard was finally complete last summer. Pep would have known the Premier League would be the toughest test of his managerial career.

After loosing to Leicester, Pep made a statement that seemed to irk most pundits. “I am not a coach of tackles.” His statement seemed to lend credence to his utterances in October when he said he insisted he will quit Manchester City before he compromises his principles, adding that his record of 21 trophies in seven seasons as a manager only hardened his belief in his philosophy.

Many now believe Guardiola is asking for trouble by saying he is not a coach for tackles, a statement Jamie Redknapp claimed was one of the most bizarre statements he has ever heard in football.

Guardiola has won plaudits from most observers for his style of play at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and the change he is determined to oversee at City but now feels dismayed at seeing his methods questioned in some quarters.

Guardiola admitted that he needs to tweak his approach to the Premier League but denied that there was any need for a major change after losing at Leicester City.

“Of course I will be the same. Of course there are some special things in the Premier League but the pitch is the same and it’s 11 v 11. I have to control the little differences between the other leagues but the idea I think is good.” City’s defending has been weak, almost throughout — they failed to combat the speed, power and directness of Leicester, whose long passes and counterattacking flummoxed the away side.

However Guardiola has absolved his players of any blame, even John Stones, whose slack backpass the other day allowed Jamie Vardy to complete a hat-trick, the player’s first since he scored three for Fleetwood Town in a Conference game in 2012 against Ebbsfleet.