Man City: Pep Guardiola reveals when he ‘smelt suffering’ coming; predicts when they ‘will be back’

Lewis Oldham
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts against PSG
Pep Guardiola has not turned things around

Pep Guardiola has suggested that he “smelt” Manchester City’s “suffering” coming before their dire run of form towards the end of 2024.

The 2024/25 campaign has been disastrous for Man City as their Premier League title hopes ended before the New Year amid a run of one win in 13 matches.

In recent weeks, there have been suggestions that the Premier League holders are back, but these claims were premature as they were exposed in a damaging 4-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Guardiola‘s side are at risk of being eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage and could fail to qualify for the competition next season as they are in a precarious position in the Premier League table.

A major Man City rebuild is underway as they are the biggest spenders in Europe this month. Speaking on Guardiola’s struggles, he admitted that he “smelt” their woeful spell coming.

“Before, a team never made man-marking against us. I remember everyone came here to the Etihad and stayed back. The first team I saw man-marking was Neil Warnock at Cardiff. And after, (Gian Piero) Gasperini with Atalanta. Now everyone does it,” Guardiola said.

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“Everyone comes here, it doesn’t matter, man to man. They just jump to Ederson or Stefan (Ortega). You have to adapt, do it better, otherwise you are not qualifying for the Champions League.

“We have to pass the ball more. We want to run too quick, make the actions without our composure. If you have the ball and don’t pass properly to your mate, everything is so difficult.

“You lose balls that normally didn’t happen in the past and you have to run more, more duels and we’re not great at that. Look at the team: Savinho, Doku, Kevin, even Phil and Gundo right now. Any team in the 20 in the Premier League is better than us with that.”

He added: “Three months ago, I smelt that this season we are going to suffer and it has happened and it is going to happen. When you said, ‘after Ipswich Town, they’re back’ or ‘against Leicester, they’re back’, it takes time, still. Next season we will be back, really. Now it is a question to survive, to qualify.”

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Regarding Man City’s recent big spending, a report from Football Insider claims ‘they are not preparing themselves for a potential transfer ban’ amid their FFP charges.

‘There have been some suggestions Pep Guardiola’s side have decided to undertake their January spending spree due to fears they could land a points deduction if they are found guilty of the charges.

‘Sources have told Football Insider it is extremely unlikely a transfer ban would be viewed as the appropriate punishment if Man City are found to have committed any serious breaches.

‘Their January spending is understood to be purely based around improving their squad following their disappointing opening half of the campaign.’