Exclusive: “Sometimes players need…” – Pep Guardiola has his methods questioned by ex-Liverpool ace | OneFootball

After another disappointing performance from Man City, this time in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola’s methods have been questioned by former Liverpool striker, Stan Collymore.

Losing five games in a row for the first time in his managerial career was bad enough, but being 3-0 up against Feyenoord in the Champions League with less than 20 minutes to go, only to then end up drawing 3-3, has really put a spoke in the works as far as City’s chances of winning the premier European trophy again are concerned.

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For a team that were seemingly unbeatable just a few weeks ago, they now look… well, ordinary, and Guardiola even bizarrely suggested he wanted to hurt himself after the latest debacle. He went on to note that the Premier League title race would be over if things continued in the same vain.

Clearly something has got to change, and Collymore has considered the possibility that, perhaps, Guardiola just doesn’t have it in him to keep City at the apex of domestic and European football.

“It’s very simple. Football goes in cycles. It happened to Wenger, happened to Ferguson, happened to Sacchi and it’s happened to every manager that has been at a club for over five or six years,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, reacts during the match between Manchester City and Feyenoord. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

“Two or three things happen. One, the manager becomes less passionate because younger coaches like Amorim come in that are itching to get out on the training ground like Pep was at Barcelona. In Pep’s case his agitation and his constant need for perfection has a shelf life.

“In the same way a great rock band would like to think that they can play Wembley Stadium forever, the reality is that your powers wane. You get older, you become less capable.

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“Secondly, sometimes players need new voices and stimuli in the dressing room. Just like Jurgen Klopp when he left Liverpool, people thought that any new man wouldn’t be able to match Klopp’s personality, but Arne Slot comes in with a different voice and a different methodology, and it’s so far so very good in terms of it working.

“Thirdly, everybody knows that Man City are an aging squad. Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne… it’s a squad that’s creaking around the seams.

“[…] With so many decent caliber managers in the Premier League now – Amorim, Slot, Iraola, Emery etc – the biggest question mark is whether Pep still has the inner belief, the energy and will to win now that he’s signed that new two year contract?”

Guardiola has always been considered as the best coach of his generation, so it must be a sobering watch to see him struggling with the same problems that his contemporaries often do.

It’s unchartered territory for him, though he can be safe in the knowledge that if drastic action is required, his club will support his every whim.

What’s more, another chance for salvation is only a few days away, and if City can go on another one of their epic winning runs, the current blip will soon be forgotten.