Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he wants to “prove” he can drag the club out of their current slump.
City head to Anfield on Sunday to face Liverpool off the back of losing five consecutive matches in all competitions and tossing away a 3-0 lead to draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Defeat on Merseyside would leave them 11 points adrift of Arne Slot’s side in the Premier League table.
Guardiola says in the present situation it is “unrealistic” to look at longer term targets like the possibility of winning the league title.
Instead, he is focusing on his own contribution and the belief that, arguably, how he deals with the present situation is a greater test of his managerial abilities than the 18 trophies he has won at City.
“Of course it’s not nice but what do you expect? That everything is red carpet? That everything is nice and easy?” he said.
“It’s easy when you are [winning] 10, 12 games in a row, everyone is fit, everyone is in their prime and everyone is 26, 27, 28. When everything is going well, that is easy.
“I have to prove myself now.”
To hear Guardiola speaking in such stark terms is as staggering as City’s form.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss is the unquestioned greatest coach of his generation. For some, he is the best of all time.
Yet listening to him address City’s collapse in form was spellbinding and he even raised the spectre of what might happen if he is unable to halt the current downturn in fortunes.
“In long careers – nine, 10, 11 years – you live all the situations,” he said.
“We lost five games, drew the last one when we should have won, but it happens in football sometimes.
“[I have to] accept it. No complaining, no blaming, no pointing. Don’t run away from your responsibility. I have absolutely all on my shoulders. I have it and I want it.
“At this football club you have to win. If you don’t, you will be in trouble. I know the people say ‘why is Pep not in trouble, why is Pep not sacked?’ I have this margin because of what we have done over the last eight years. The people rely on me.
“What’s for sure is I want to stay. But the moment I feel I am not positive for the club another one will come.”
It is just over a week since City confirmed Guardiola had signed a two-year contract extension to 2027.
He has no regrets over the deal and neither has the club after an unprecedented run of success since his arrival in 2016 that includes a record four successive top-flight titles and a historic Treble in 2023.
“In a decade of time, we have been here,” he said. “Tell me which team around the world has been as consistent in 10 years… It doesn’t exist. Not in NBA, not in tennis, not in golf, not in any sports.”
Guardiola must try to lift the confidence of his players, not just for the test against league leaders Liverpool, but for the challenges that come afterwards.
City have also slipped out of the top eight in the Champions League and are facing a February play-off to preserve their place in the competition if the situation does not change in their final three first-phase games.
“We will be back, I know that,” he said. “I don’t know when.
“In the situation we are in, it is not realistic to think about big targets. The situation is to think about the next game and what I can do to help the players.
“I don’t want to run. I asked for this opportunity. I want to be there and rebuild the team in many aspects from now on until the end of the season and next season.”
City are currently in second place in the Premier League table, with one point more than Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton.