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Pep Guardiola has a new appreciation for Manchester City’s dominance amid their current struggles and claims he would leave if he felt he had lost the team.
City host Manchester United in the derby in Etihad on Sunday in the unfamiliar position of having lost seven of their last 10 games in all competitions.
Guardiola ended speculation over his future by signing a new two-year deal three weeks ago, but that certainty has so far failed to help City arrest their slide.
Asked if he had any regrets, the Spaniard responded emphatically, saying: “Absolutely not. I would regret leaving now. I couldn’t sleep. They could fire me. That could happen. But leave now? No way.
“When I feel it’s time to go, I will go. If I’m losing and losing and losing for another month, I’m going to say ‘guys, somebody else has to come in and fix these things’, because it can’t last forever.
“There is one thing when I would say, ‘Pep, you have to think about it’, when I lose the team, when I feel they are not running. They don’t follow me.
“At that point, we wouldn’t be here for a minute. But I’m there more than ever. There is no doubt about that.”
Players are not stupid. They had the highest level of consistency and it didn’t matter what happened we found a way to win games. Now we have no way to win games
Pep Guardiola
The challenge before Guardiola is now unknown and, while it is certainly not what he would have wanted, it has given him reason to reflect a little on the trophy seasons that preceded him.
He hopes there will be more, but he said: “The biggest achievement has already been made. We were the best.
“But now I understand how difficult what we did was and, when we come back, of course it will be, wow, we won’t forget those moments. Because we want to and are doing it, but we are not able to.”
Guardiola’s biggest headache at the moment is in defence, where injuries to John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake and the suspension of Rico Lewis have left him with only Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker and If Guardiol available.
He insists he has no problem taking on the responsibility, adding: “That’s why I’m paid well. If I don’t want what happened, all the comments after the game, I have to go do another job.
“I didn’t expect that the good moments that happened in the past would give me time in the bad moments. That has never happened with any manager in history. I am calm because I know the reason why we won, and I also know the reason why we lose.
“It’s not enough, I know that. Players are not stupid. They had the highest level of consistency and it didn’t matter what happened we found a way to win games. Now we have no way to win games.
“Of course we have to improve. We have no defense for results. But that’s football, that’s life.
“You told me a month ago when we were top of the league, unbeaten, the only English team unbeaten, that you would lose the next (five). Are you crazy? That won’t happen. It happened and maybe we can lose more.”