Pep Guardiola defiant as Man City seek to end winless run
Sunday 23 October 2016 13:59, UK
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is determined to return to winning ways against Southampton, as he looks to avoid going five games without a victory.
After a sparkling start to life under Guardiola, City's season has faltered somewhat and they were comprehensively outplayed by Barcelona as they fell to a 4-0 defeat in the Champions League on Wednesday.
That result came on the back of a home draw against Everton, defeat to Tottenham at White Hart Lane and another draw away at Celtic.
If City fail to beat Southampton in the Nissan Super Sunday clash at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola will equal the worst run of his career.
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Only once has former Barca and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola gone five games without a win, at the Nou Camp more than seven years ago.
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Guardiola said: "Managers in other parts of the club have to think short and long term but the (team) manager day by day. We are judged on what happens today, so I'm thinking about Southampton.
"Of course we have to win because it is four times without a win and we need that. But, at the same time, we were able to win 10 times in a row, so we are now able win four, five or six times."
Southampton were also involved in European action in the week, losing 1-0 to Inter Milan at San Siro in the Europa League on Thursday.
Until then Saints had been enjoying a good run, going seven games unbeaten, and Guardiola has been impressed by what he has seen of them.
He said: "I saw the game against Inter Milan. Football is unbelievable because they played amazingly, much better than Inter, and Inter won. Inter just shot once and won.
"Southampton created six, seven clear chances and didn't win. They lost but I was really impressed.
"People talk about what a good team they are. I saw in this game and a little bit of another game how good they are. It will be tough."
The 4-0 loss in Barcelona has seen some of Guardiola's methods questioned. Notably, their determination to play out from the back came unstuck when goalkeeper Claudio Bravo blundered after coming out of his area and got himself sent off.
But Guardiola has defended his approach and his players also seem unwavering in their belief.
Midfielder Fernandinho said: "We know exactly what we are doing, the style of game. We are playing good, everyone is confident.
"The last four games we didn't win but these things can happen in football. If you see the last game at home against Everton, they shot twice and scored a goal. Sometimes you cannot explain football."
