Guardiola told reporters: “I’m unbelievably honest with myself for the reason why we have arrived here and it is me. It’s not the players. They naturally drop a little bit and that is normal. It happened a little bit last season as well.
“But with this consistency [of results], I should have found it and that is why we’re in this position. I blame myself. I lead that group of players and I could not lift them. This is the reality. Why in the past they followed me, were they able to get results? We were the only unbeaten team in Europe and top of the league. Immediately we went down.
“For injuries, many things we’ve talked about. But even with that, I should have found a way to get better results. Hopefully we can continue now.”
Asked to diagnose the problem, he added: “Many things. The manager isn’t just four at the back, five at the back, two strikers, it’s many things,” he said. “There is something I miss, something I’m not doing well. At the end, when you lose a lot of games, there is an incredible responsibility for the manager to feel something the team needs for its confidence. And I was not able to do it.
“We got the result [at Leicester] but no more than that. Listen, all of us – me as the first, and all of us – we know our level. How is the team compared to the last eight years? We are not there. I’m not denying. One result is not going to change my perspective on how is the team right now. But, at the same time, hopefully results can help with our belief and composure.”
AFP
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