Pep Guardiola has vowed not to quit as he strives to restore Manchester City’s lost sparkle and has also refused to point the finger of blame at any players amid the champions’ sudden staggering nosedive in form and results.
Guardiola is facing the scrutiny of a lifetime like never before in his glittering managerial career after a nightmare run of nine defeats, with just one win, in 13 games.
The dramatic slump in fortunes for the winners of six Premier League titles in the past seven seasons has been incredulous, but Guardiola insists he still has the hunger to turn the situation around.
“I will try, I will keep going,” said the Spaniard. “Sometimes you think (the bad run) will be (ended) earlier or (it would be) easier to fix it, but others it takes more time.
“I will not give up. I want to be here. I want to do it and, with the situation that we have, we have to do it.
“Of course I want it, everyone wants it. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this club.
“I think all of us in our job want to do it well and please the people. That is undeniable, not a question mark.
“The biggest test is to come back again, but we have done that before.”
Injuries have been a mainstay in City’s demise, besides the long-term debilitating knee problem suffered by midfield linchpin Rodri. Ruben Dias, John Stones, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Matheus Nunes all also missed the underwhelming 1-1 home draw with Everton on Thursday.
A collective loss of form across the rest of the squad has also been another main issue impacting performance, with the usually prolific Erling Haaland being the latest to have his contributions questioned.
Having scored just once in his last seven outings, the Norwegian had to endure the frustration of having a penalty saved by Everton’s Jordan Pickford in Thursday’s encounter at the Etihad Stadium.
“I don’t have it in my education to start complaining, to point at people,” said Guardiola. “It’s happened, it’s life, it’s football, so let’s try it again.
“That’s why we have had success – because always it is never enough, we will try it again and again and again. That’s why we won a lot of titles.
“Every three days it was a game and win, win, win for many, many months and years. Now we have to do the same when results are not good.”
The fitness of a number of City players is still doubtful as they bid to get back to winning ways at relegation-threatened Leicester on Sunday.
“Sometimes you have injuries,” Guardiola said. “For how many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, we’re a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured.
“But I saw the team spirit, how we trained this week, how focused they are, how they try to practice. We saw that (against Everton) but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”