“I feel a lot of sympathy” : Mikel Arteta on Pep Guardiola and Manchester City’s recent poor form

Manchester City have far and away been the best English team in football for the past decade. But when Pep Guardiola arrived in Manchester in 2016, he brought in a new era of football with him, an era which we are still living in.

The Spainard, after his heroics with FC Barcelona from 2008-2012, made him cemented as one of the greatest managers of all time. And while there were doubts regarding whether or not he would hack it in the toughest league in the world, those soon vanished after he dominantly won the league in his first full season with the club.

Now, with six Premier League titles and one Champions League while breaking a variety of league records, the Spainard has revolutionized the sport once again, and it seemed like there was no stopping Manchester City as long as the Spainard is around.

But, for the first time in his whole managerial career, Pep Guardiola just lost five matches in a row, add a draw against Feyenoord in the most recent match and that was the breaking point for Guardiola, as his face was literally filled with question marks.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, formerly Guardiola’s assistant during his stint with the Blues, knows what its like working with the Spainard and the huge responsibility that comes with the job, after setting the standards so high. Naturally, Arteta showed sympathy towards Guardiola and has suggested worry for his mental well-being.

“Everybody has a bump” : Mikel Arteta

Although Mikel Arteta has confirmed his worry for his former boss and now rival, he believes that City will ultimately get back on track like nothing happened, as the empire that Guardiola has built up over his tenure cannot just go in vain.

“That is something very personal, but I feel a lot of sympathy for all my colleagues because I know the job, I know how ruthless this industry is, I know how we get judged just by one thing, which is results, regardless that you have done exactly the same thing and the outcome becomes different. We have to deal with that. I know how difficult it is because personally I have been through that a lot and every defeat is obviously super-painful. And that’s it. Then just put some perspective into it like we always do and move on, because there is always another game.” Arteta said.

The Gunners head coach also talked about the level and consistency the teams have to be in in order to gain monumental success, and to do that for more than eight years is something else.

“What people have to talk about [is] how difficult it is what they have done for nine years consistently. And yeah, a bump, everybody has a bump. For them, it is very strange because in nine years they never had it. But that tells you as well the level and the environment that we are in, that everything has to go almost perfect. Performance has to be perfect, availability of your squad has to be perfect, things have to go your way and the opposition, the level is different, and it’s so hard to win.” the 42-year-old added.

Apart from losing Rodri through an unfortunate ACL injury, blame can also be put on Manchester City’s dull transfer window. Their average squad age has grown over the years to more than 27, as the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, newly returned Ilkay Gundogan among others look a shadow of their former self. It is clear that the Spainard would need fresher legs in the upcoming winter window as the level of intensity in Europe nowadays require more than just 11 starting players.

To get their first win in seven matches, Pep Guardiola now has to go to a literal lion’s den in the form of Liverpool, who look out of this world at the moment. Although it is a high-risk high reward game, Pep is one of those few managers who can turn the tide in his favour at any given moment.