{"id":301545,"date":"2023-12-05T23:24:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T23:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=301545"},"modified":"2023-12-05T23:24:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T23:24:52","slug":"pep-guardiola-launches-an-astonishing-defence-of-his-man-city-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/pep-guardiola-launches-an-astonishing-defence-of-his-man-city-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola launches an astonishing defence of his Man City stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Pep Guardiola slams Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in a six-and-half-minute monologue defending his Man City side after &#8216;complacency&#8217; claims<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Man City have dropped points in three successive games to fall down to third<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>City were accused of complacency after the 3-3 draw with Tottenham on Sunday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Man City are vulnerable, but come the spring they will put on the afterburners. Leaders Arsenal must seize their moment now &#8211; Listen to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pep Guardiola launched into an extraordinary six-and-a-half-minute monologue on Tuesday, defending his Manchester City players, claiming they will make history this season and skewering accusations of complacency.<\/p>\n<p>City visit Aston Villa\u00a0on Wednesday on the back of conceding eight goals in three straight draws \u2014 their worst run in the Premier League since 2017. They head to Villa without the suspended Rodri and Jack Grealish, and their shining light this season Jeremy Doku is missing through injury. It leaves Guardiola needing to rejig his midfield for one of the season\u2019s toughest away assignments.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, recent performances have convinced the Catalan to declare that they will win an unprecedented fourth consecutive league title.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And the fired-up City boss, who has pored over criticism of his team since the dramatic 3-3 draw against Tottenham on Sunday, was happy to take aim at three Sky Sports pundits, former City defender Micah Richards, Jamie Carragher and particularly Gary Neville, who suggested that they are suffering from complacency after last year\u2019s Treble.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Gary Neville knows how difficult it is otherwise he would\u2019ve won four Premier Leagues in the best period of Manchester United,\u2019 Guardiola said. \u2018But he didn\u2019t do it. Maybe they accuse us of complacency because they felt complacency (at United). Maybe they felt it. This team so far, no chance.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/18\/78610139-12828981-image-a-6_1701802062213.jpg\" height=\"384\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Pep Guardiola launched an astonishing six-and-a-half-minute defence of his Man City stars<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/18\/78610167-12828981-image-a-8_1701802070498.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>City were accused of complacency after the draw with Spurs, which was their third in a row<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/18\/78610177-12828981-image-a-12_1701802082468.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Guardiola hit out at Gary Neville and said he didn&#8217;t win four titles as United were complacent\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Jamie Carragher didn\u2019t win one (title). Micah Richards didn\u2019t win four Premier Leagues in a row. Never, ever. It\u2019s never happened.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/19\/78610991-12828981-image-a-27_1701803433542.jpg\" height=\"490\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t have anything to say about the pundits, honestly. It\u2019s not about that (complacency). Maybe I\u2019m wrong but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s about complacency.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I know the players, I know how they run. How we behave is extraordinary. I have a feeling that if we maintain that level, we\u2019ll win the Premier League. We will win it again.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018How we\u2019ve done doesn\u2019t give me the feeling that we\u2019re saying, \u201cLook how good we are\u201d or we play a little bit naive or play like we don\u2019t respect the opponents. Not at all.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>City drew 4-4 at Chelsea in one of the all-time great league encounters before giving up a lead late on against Liverpool last month. In all three draws, City have conceded equalisers in the last 10 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Even if they are rarely giving up huge chances, Guardiola knows that defensively they must improve against a Villa team who have won all six home matches this term. But he believes the reaction to City\u2019s blip has been overboard.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/20\/78610993-12828981-image-a-32_1701809429406.jpg\" height=\"705\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>\u2018When you drop points, people say, \u201cOK you drop points, against Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham \u2014 what a disaster\u201d. It\u2019s Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham \u2014 what do people expect?\u2019 he asked. \u2018That we get 120 points and be 20 points in front?<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Many times I have listened over seven years. If we don\u2019t win it\u2019s complacency. If we lose semi-finals, we don\u2019t have character.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Of course, our behaviour in some moments, after winning the Treble and three leagues in a row\u2026 you need sometimes to defend a cross more aggressively. They are the little details.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But if we maintain the level of Liverpool and Tottenham, I\u2019ll sign for it right now if we can maintain that every single game. We didn\u2019t win 5-0, we drew. But I\u2019d sign right now, my team behaving the way we\u2019ve played the last two games. Against Tottenham, the chances we had, what can I say?<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m pretty sure we are not going to win for the next decade, 10 leagues in a row. I\u2019m optimistic but not an idiot. This is not going to happen. We are quite stable, create more chances, concede fewer than the opponents. We\u2019re on a good path. And normally I still have the feeling \u2014 maybe I\u2019m wrong \u2014 that we have more chances to score goals than the opponents.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/18\/78610161-12828981-image-a-7_1701802064601.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Guardiola then made the bold prediction that City would win the Premier League this season<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=kHG0H8ocKTE%3Frel%3D0<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/18\/78610199-12828981-image-m-13_1701802460921.jpg\" height=\"358\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/18\/78610195-12828981-image-m-15_1701802465406.jpg\" height=\"358\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Jamie Carragher (left) and Micah Richards (right) also received the wrath of the Spaniard<\/p>\n<p>Guardiola was also asked about his comments concerning Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on Sunday when he refused to criticise referee Simon Hooper over his controversial decision to blow the whistle with Grealish clean through against Spurs in the last minute.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I will not do an Arteta,\u2019 Guardiola had said pointing towards his ex-assistant\u2019s evisceration of officiating at Newcastle a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday Guardiola said: \u2018People say, \u201cAh you want to make a dig to Mikel\u201d. I didn\u2019t want to make a dig to Mikel. It was a little joke, maybe people didn\u2019t get it. If I want to say something to Mikel I call him, we spoke to each other one week ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Mind games? Mind games is to play better than the opponents.\u2019<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12828981\/Pep-Guardiola-defence-Man-City-win-Premier-League-suggests-Gary-Neville-Man-United-complacent.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pep Guardiola slams Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in a six-and-half-minute monologue defending his Man City side after &#8216;complacency&#8217; claims <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pep Guardiola launches an astonishing defence of his Man City stars - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/pep-guardiola-launches-an-astonishing-defence-of-his-man-city-stars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pep Guardiola launches an astonishing defence of his Man City stars - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pep Guardiola slams Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in a six-and-half-minute monologue defending his Man City side after &#8216;complacency&#8217; 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