Pep Guardiola has explained that he has not been sacked by Manchester City because of his achievements over the past eight years.
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City in dismal formHave not won any of their last six gamesFace Liverpool in title showdown this weekendFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
City have been in dire form and have not won any of their last six fixtures in all competitions. In the Premier League, they have lost all of their past three games, culminating in a 4-0 thumping by Tottenham. This weekend, they play league leaders Liverpool, and a loss would see the Reds open up an 11-point gap at the top of the table.
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City fans took to social media after their draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League – they threw away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 – to beg for Guardiola to be sacked if they lose to Liverpool. However, the defiant former Barcelona boss insists that his achievements with City grant him plenty of leeway; he has won six Premier League titles, four Carabao Cups, two FA Cups and the Champions League in a glittering spell at the Etihad. He also recently signed a contract extension.
WHAT GUARDIOLA SAID
Speaking ahead of this weekend's crunch clash, Guardiola said: "At this football club you have to win and if you don't win, you will be in trouble. I know the people say why is Pep not in trouble, why is Pep not sacked? What we have done the last eight years is why I have this margin.
"The people rely on me, the hierarchy, the people. It is not normal in the big clubs to do the results we have but we have to accept it. What's for sure I want to stay. I want to do it. But the moment I feel I am not positive for the club another one will come. It has to be.
"But I want the opportunity. I want the opportunity to try. I don't want to run. I want to be there and rebuild the team in many aspects from now on until the end of the season and next season. I want to continue up there. I asked for that challenge and I asked for this opportunity to do it because I feel it. I know what we want to do, I know what we need and what we have to do, knowing in that moment that we don't have that consistency that we had, obviously, we don't have it right now.
"But which team around the world in 10 years is consistent? Tell me one. It doesn't exist. In NBA, not even in tennis, not even in any sports. Not in golf. In a decade of time, we have been here in a decade. We don't find it. Be as consistent as we have done, you don't find it. I'm sorry, we don't find it.
"It's not nice to live, of course it's not nice, but what do you expect? That everything is red carpet? That everything is nice and easy? It's easy when you are 10, 12 games in a row, everyone is fit and everyone is in their prime and everyone is 26, 27, 28. Everything is going well. That is easy. Now, no. I have to prove myself now.
"It's not an excuse that Rodri is not there. What are we going to do, cry all the time that Rodri is not there or that the four central defenders have not been there for a long time in the last month? I have to find a solution and the way to do it. I'm trying every day."
GETTYWHAT NEXT?
City face Liverpool this weekend in a game that Guardiola has already admitted the club must win, if they are to have any hope of winning the Premier League title.