Guardiola on critics and consecutive titles
- Published
Pep Guardiola has spoken to the media before Manchester City's final game of the season against West Ham.
Here are the main lines from his press conference:
On if his side will get the credit they deserve for a historic fourth consecutive league title: "I think so. In world football, for sure. Nothing is going to change whether we win four in a row or Arsenal win the Premier League. We know how good we have been."
On if people like his team, after an initial swear word he said: "I don't go knocking on doors asking what people think. We are in the best position. We need to win one game to be champions. Everyone would love to be in our position."
Comparing West Ham game to the Aston Villa match in 2022 when his side were 2-0 down with 14 minutes left: "I have the feeling it will be an Aston Villa game. We would love to be 3-0 up but it isn't going to happen. My first game (in the Premier League) was against Sunderland and David Moyes was there. Now, to win an important game he will be there. It is always an honour to see him. He will do everything to beat us and I'm ready for a tough, tough game."
Looking ahead to a must-win game: "Liverpool and Arsenal gave us that one moment to have the destiny in our hands. I've seen Arsenal all season. They (players) know it's win or Arsenal will be champions. It's not more complicated than that."
Speaking about the challenge of winning titles and the final game, he added: "We want to experience it again and we have to perform. You can't think 'we want to win it', you have to do something to [earn] it, you have to be resilient in the bad moments like what happened against Aston Villa [in 2022] and against Spurs in the last game."
On how often he thinks about the criticism he received in his first season: "Not now. I remember after 100 points (2017-18) when people said we couldn't win without tackles but not since. It is part of the process. We have to live these kind of situations to say we're going to prove it. It's necessary otherwise you are flat and comfortable and have a lot of compliments. Since then, not one second."
On the prospect of winning four consecutive titles: "My analysis of world football is if you arrive in the last stages with the chance to win you have been magnificent. We want to experience it again. I don't want to talk about anything else."