Pep Guardiola plays down Liverpool's five point lead and insists Man City are battling raised expectations

1/21
James Robson @jamesrobsonES20 September 2019

Pep Guardiola has dismissed concerns about Liverpool’s five-point lead at the top of the table.

Last week’s shock defeat to Norwich has left Manchester City playing catch up in the opening weeks of the season.

And with the Premier League champions facing a defensive injury crisis in the absence of Aymeric Laporte and John Stones, the pressure is on Guardiola’s side to keep pace with Jurgen Klopp’s leaders.

But the Catalan shrugged off the 3-2 defeat at Carrow Road and backed his players to rise to the challenge of chasing down Liverpool.

“We accept it,” he said. “It doesn’t happen many times in the big moments. I’m relaxed. It’s going to happen.

In Pictures | Norwich City vs Man City | 14/09/2019

1/25

“There are 99 points to play for. We’re five behind, but let’s see how many we get. I lost many times as a player and a manager, the only way to survive here is to win games and we’ve won a lot.

“Many times we look to improve. You have to understand what we have done in the past.

’I’ve said many times, the strongest opponent we’ve had in Liverpool. I said when they were in front (last season) they have everything in their game, set pieces, transitions. I know how difficult it is and was and will be. That’s the challenge.”

Defeat at Norwich was City’s first in the league since losing at Newcastle in January.

Guardiola believes his domestic treble winners have raised expectations to the point that any slip is considered a major shock.

“After what happened in the last years, we have to try to take perspective over what they’ve done,” he said. “I didn’t have doubts about the team.

“It’s your problem if you believe we cannot lose. Before every game we can lose - we have to have that feeling. We lose one in the Premier League in eight months.

“Sometimes the opponent is better or more precise. But I didn’t have doubts after one defeat what the reaction would be. They’ve shown it many times in many years.”

Fernandinho is set to partner Nicolas Otamendi at centre-back, with Guardiola putting his faith in that makeshift pairing until Stones returns from a thigh injury in around five weeks.

Riyad Mahrez was the outstanding performer in Wednesday’s 3-0 Champions League win against Shakhtar, with a goal and an assist. But he is not guaranteed to keep hold of his place against Watford, with Guardiola telling the Algeria winger to be more patient about his first team opportunities.

“There is no doubt we need the quality and especially the mentality,” added the City manager. “Especially how competitive he is surprised me a lot.

In Pictures | Shakhtar Donetsk vs Man City | 18/09/2019

1/24

“Especially the one detail - he loves to play football and he loves the training session and he loves to be contact with the ball. I like these type of players.

“He goes to the training pitch and he takes the ball and he plays with the ball and have fun with the ball. That is maybe a stupid detail, but I like it.

“He doesn’t feel too much pressure. It doesn’t matter where he plays, he has a lot of confidence in himself.

“In terms of making bad actions, he wants the ball, he wants to try again. That’s the best detail for the players in the big clubs in the big stages and it’s the most difficult thing to find. And he is quality.

“Perhaps the only thing he has to improve is to be more relaxed when he doesn’t play. Only that. The rest is top.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in