Pep Guardiola sends clear message to Man City critics ahead of game against Everton
Manager Josep Guardiola has insisted that Manchester City’s rivals should be cautious about sacking their squad ahead of their return to the Premier League against Everton.
City beat Fluminense 4-0 on Friday night to win the Club World Cup, lifting Guardiola’s 14th major trophy as manager.
The Etihad club face Everton again tomorrow night at Goodison Park.
City’s victory in the Middle East means they become the first Premier League team to win the title, Champions League, FA Cup, European Super Cup and Club World Cup in the same year, but they are far behind.
They face Sean Dyche’s team who are in the top flight of the Premier League table.
But Guardiola, previewing the team’s visit to Goodison, insisted he remains driven by hatred for his failure.
He said: “That’s the deal.
If you don’t win, you have nothing, nothing.
No matter how much you win, they want you to fail more than ever.
“From the first day at Barcelona, I felt that people were waiting for me.
“What we won, the title, is incredible.
And people say, “The way they play, the way they play, the way they play.
” “But it’s because I won.
They don’t understand anything about what we do, but they praise us just because we won.
“We have to keep looking.
The moment we don’t win, there’s going to be doubt, but that’s the beauty of it.
That’s okay.
Doubt us again.
Let’s see what happens.
” Then the city manager added: “We’ll try again.
” Instead of trying to get 5 titles again, try again.
Great athletes forget their successes as quickly as possible.
“We have a day to celebrate, but we have another contest coming up and we have to try again.I remain satisfied with what we did, but we have to try again.
“At the beginning of the season, I never thought about how many titles I would win.
Never.
That’s a terrible approach.
Next up is Goodison Park.
There is nothing beyond that, nothing.
“The reason we are here is the defeats against Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon.
It was the defeat against Chelsea in the (Champions League) final and the loss in the last minutes against Madrid.
Because we lost.
“It hurt then, but now it doesn’t hurt anymore.
That helped us and contributed to the win against Inter Milan.
It’s a process.
It’s something we’re used to at big clubs, but it was new for us.
“Now we believe that we can and will win anywhere.
It’s not just a matter of ‘bring encouragement here and it will happen right away.
‘ It’s a process.
We are ending eight years of work with a lot of disappointment, but it’s part of life and part of sport.
”