Pep Guardiola cuts a lonely figure as he turns on his Man City stars for their ‘mistakes’ during alarming slump in form, insisting they must ‘do the simple things better’ - sportsnewsfoot

Introspection has washed over Pep Guardiola in recent weeks and as he talked about loneliness in defeat and requiring rest from the hamster wheel, it was left to Ruben Dias to fully describe the defiance inside Manchester City.

‘That people doubt is the one thing that brings you strength, inspires you to be greater,’ Dias said. 

‘This is our legacy. More than the Treble, four in a row… all of it is spectacular but I do believe what defines a legacy is how you react in the most difficult moments of your career.

‘I’m a true believer in those moments being the ones that define you. We embrace it. Those are the ones I’ll for sure remember later.’

A bullish Dias is talking the talk amid City’s one victory in nine games, conceding 22 goals, and before a must-win tie at Juventus that will go some way to directing Guardiola towards two midweeks off in February or a Champions League play-off round nobody envisaged or predicted. Given the length of this season, ending at the Club World Cup in July, they are two extra games City could really do without.

Guardiola’s appearance on a podcast with renowned Spanish chef Dani Garcia, recorded the day before City’s 4-0 defeat at home against Tottenham last month, further illuminates the current mood.

Pep Guardiola has cut an increasingly troubled figure on the Manchester City touchline as this campaign wears on

Ruben Dias was bullish about the club’s chances versus Juventus but the game has become a must-win clash

The 53-year-old had signed his new contract but admitted to Garcia that ‘to rest I think would be good for me’, while knowing a rest is just not possible. He is committed to the rebuild, penning the two-year extension in part because City require surgery, yet discussed ‘energy’ or the lack thereof. ‘But right now no (rest),’ he said. ‘Right now I’m here.’

These have been the toughest weeks of Guardiola’s stellar career as he offered insight into what lonely nights are like up in that penthouse apartment near Manchester cathedral.

‘The pain of defeat only happens to one (person),’ he added. 

‘It’s true that your friends are there, but when you go to sleep and turn off the light, there’s no consolation possible. You have to swallow it. Why did I do this? Did I do it wrong? Did I not push them enough? Did I make a bad decision?’

A gruff Guardiola did two things for the first time on Tuesday. He moved the dial away from City’s injury crisis and he bemoaned individual mistakes that are killing their momentum in matches. Kyle Walker’s fingerprints smudged all over Crystal Palace’s two goals at the weekend; the farcical 3-3 draw with Feyenoord was pockmarked by errors.

‘We punish ourselves in many games,’ Guardiola said. 

‘What will save us is the way we play. The mistakes are consequences of not playing in the way we have to. The way we have to play is so simple.

‘Our strength in this success was we ran like a desperate team when we didn’t have the ball. We don’t have the ball and with the ball, it’s about being incredibly patient. Now we are in a moment that we attack so quick and we do a lot of things not in the right tempo that we lose the ball and have a lot of transitions.’

Unusually, Guardiola has directed some of the blame back on his players as he bemoaned individual performances

And – even for a great philosopher of modern football – the message is clear. Back to basics.

‘Do the simple things better. After that, you will get the confidence because you cannot imagine how you regain the confidence when you make an extra thousand million passes. We (are) adjusting some things mentally now on how to do it.

‘I don’t ask for actions like from Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi. They have to do what they are good at. 

‘And it is from here, even if it’s at the bottom… from here we are going to build.’