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Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have regained the energy that eluded them last season and lifted the “fog” that clouded a disappointing campaign. City finished without a major trophy for the first time since 2016-17, Guardiola’s first in charge, but are hunting a seventh Premier League title under him after six straight wins.
Rayan Cherki struck late on at Nottingham Forest on Saturday to maintain City’s impressive winning run, which extends to eight in all competitions. Second-placed City are two points behind leaders Arsenal, who host third-placed Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. City do not return to action until Thursday, when they face high-flying Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Guardiola pinpointed last summer’s Club World Cup as a “critical moment” on their path to this point. Asked what changed in the US, where they exited at the last-16 stage, the City manager laboured his point. “Energy, energy, energy,” he said. “Me first. We lost it last season. We started to train better, to compete better. After that we can talk about three at the back, four at the back, wingers or full-backs – that is all bullshit. We needed to get energy back, and then you have a good environment.”
Guardiola acknowledged he was personally drained last season. “It was something … something was in the fog in Manchester, surrounding our training centre. We missed something. It is not switching on or off [energy]. Managers are not magicians, click your fingers and everything is clear. Sometimes you need time. Winning helps to advance this process.”
During the off-season Guardiola also reshaped his coaching staff, with Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant Pep Lijnders, the club’s former defender Kolo Touré and the set-piece coach James French, also formerly of Liverpool, forming a new-look setup.
“Everyone was happy,” the City manager said. “[We] made a lot of dinners, a lot of talks, [about] what we have to do next season. We wanted to extend it, just to live that. I think there, after talking with Pep and James, Manel [Estiarte, a longtime adviser to Guardiola], Hugo [Viana, City’s director of football], Txiki [Begiristain, their former director of football], we turned around and said something changed. Something [you can feel],” Guardiola said, rubbing his thumb against his index finger.
“It doesn’t mean you are going to win but that you are able to recognise the team. Now it is eight victories in a row [in all competitions]. It is not easy but we compete in the way we do. We have to improve, absolutely, but this mindset is better.”
Asked if he was concerned his vigour may not return, the 54-year-old replied: “No. Energy can go down but energy can go up. Never in our lives is it the same. In [our] professional or personal [lives], you’ll never be happy or sad all the time. You have to realise why, to realise what we missed, to come back. Everything in life … there is the sentence, right? ‘This too shall pass.’”
