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Pep Guardiola says Manchester City’s poor run of form needs to be put into context as they prepare for another difficult trip to face Aston Villa.
Guardiola has guided City to the last four Premier League titles and six of the last seven.
This season, however, has seen a run of one win in 11 games, as City have fallen to fifth in the league table, below Nottingham Forest and two points ahead of Villa.
Guardiola said: “I handle the good moments, I handle the bad moments. I have had bad moments in my career as a coach but we were able to come back and now it takes longer.
“I have experience with that. I have had 40 bad days in terms of results, that is the truth if you compare it with eight years which is much better. It’s been eight years of incredible (results) and now we have 40-45 days of (bad results).
PEP 💬 Manuel (Akanji) and John (Stones) have returned to training. That’s good for us…
I don’t know yet (if they will start on Saturday). Yesterday was his first training. pic.twitter.com/nRdNHj134D
– Manchester City (@ManCity) December 20, 2024
“I’m fine. I’m a normal person with feelings like all of us. When a situation goes well we are better and when it doesn’t go well professionally we are more (focused) on what we have to do.”
Villa finished fourth last season and have juggled another challenge by finishing in the top four with an impressive Champions League campaign that has seen wins over Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig.
Guardiola says his success under Unai Emery has not been a surprise.
“I’m not surprised,” he said. «Excellent, excellent manager. (They had good success) the qualification for the Champions League and the results in the Champions League speak for themselves.
“They are managing it well because when I have been in many clubs managing both competitions, they have done it very well.”
