After winning four EPL trophies in a row, Manchester City's dominance finally ended in most of the competitions this season. Pep Guardiola's side was never close to being the shadow of their exceptional past and currently fighting for a Champions League spot in the Premier League. What went wrong for City, is a complex question that has various answers. There were of course injuries, that left the squad crippled and many pundits claim that they lost the hunger to win after being exponentially successful in major part of the last decade.
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Pep Guardiola on 'Most Difficult' Season with Man City
Man City's flop season proved to be Pep Guardiola's most challenging in his illustrious managerial career. Guardiola has a brilliant track record of dominating the football world with whatever club he has managed, but this year he suffered never-experienced before phases, where victories were hard to come by and there came many occasions when his team was severely wasteful and threw away the games after taking the lead and coming in most comfortable positions. After enduring all this season, Guardiola has admitted that it was indeed the "most difficult" campaign of his career.
“It’s been the most difficult, that’s for sure,” said the 54-year-old, who has won 18 trophies with City and 39 across his managerial career.
“It’s been more demanding – much more. When you don’t win it’s more demanding emotionally and (in terms of) preparing and the moods and everything.
“It’s been more difficult than the previous seasons when we played for the titles.”
Injuries – particularly to midfield linchpin Rodri – have been a big factor in City’s decline this season while a number of individuals have suffered a drop in form.
Guardiola does not absolve himself from blame on that front.
He said: “We had a lot of injuries, we didn’t have the energy. We tried most of the time but we were not able to do it.
“I didn’t find the way to let them feel comfortable and winning the games that would help us to win more games.
“I’m disappointed in myself when it’s not going well. I have to prove myself again and again. Life doesn’t live from memories.”
Despite having an underwhelming season in comparison to some of the previous years, Manchester City are currently 3rd on the Premier League table, and are in the FA Cup final, where they will square off against Crytal Palace. Should they finish in top 4 and end the season with a title, then in no measure it will go down as a failure of a season for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.