Pep Guardiola says Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is offering him unequivocal backing amid the club’s worst run for 21 years.
City head into Thursday’s clash at the Etihad against Everton after dropping to seventh place in the Premier League table and having lost nine of their past 12 matches in all competitions.
Guardiola — who signed a new contract last month — has discussed his own role in the club’s dip with Al Mubarak, with the pair in weekly dialogue.
‘I feel incredibly supported,’ Guardiola said. ‘We both know it, when there’s a moment something wrong happens, then we are going to take decisions.
‘We say, “OK, the situation is what it is and what we have to do to improve the team and come on, let’s go to the next one”, and it’s always been positive.’
Guardiola’s players slept at the training ground last night after an evening session to prepare for the visit of Sean Dyche’s side, who have kept five clean sheets in their past six games.
Pep Guardiola says he feels ‘incredibly supported’ by Man City despite their run of form
He inists he has regular productive conversations with club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak
The City boss admitted his side, four points off Nottingham Forest in the final guaranteed Champions League spot, are in danger of missing out on a place in Europe’s biggest club competition next season.
The Premier League title-holders have qualified for the Champions League for 14 consecutive seasons, dating back to Roberto Mancini’s reign.
Chelsea, Forest, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Newcastle are offering a significant challenge to the league’s elite, although there could be an extra place up for grabs in the competition given the Premier League’s coefficient is in a strong position to have five representatives next year.
‘Now we’re at risk, of course we are,’ Guardiola said. ‘There are a lot of contenders to be there. For every club it is so important, and if we are not winning games we will be out. Financially it is an issue, of course it is, but it’s not just that.’
During his time in charge of City, Guardiola has regularly made reference to the club’s first target each season being a finish in the top four. The 53-year-old does not think he was taken seriously, given the club’s previous superiority over its rivals.
‘When I said it before, people laughed,’ he said. ‘It’s presumptuous, (thinking of) us winning the Premier League.
‘They said, “Ah, qualifying for the Champions League is not a big success”.
‘I know it is because it happens with clubs in this country. They were dominant for many years and after that they went many, many years not qualifying for the Champions League.’
Man City’s stars are sleeping overnight at the training ground ahead of their matc with Everton at 12.30pm on Boxing Day
Some of City’s players, including the overworked Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva, enjoyed their Christmas festivities earlier in the week during scheduled time off.
They had to stay away from their loved ones on Wednesday night, though, as Guardiola insists his players sleep at the training ground on the eve of lunchtime kick-offs ‘to avoid traffic’. City’s base has 80 bedrooms kitted out with sleep-enhancing wallpaper, while £150,000 was spent on mattresses and pillows.
Kevin De Bruyne is expected to return on Thursday after sitting out the defeat at Aston Villa.
‘We have to do more, we cannot do the same because the results are not going well,’ said Guardiola. ‘We have to do more, do better. If we do something that we’ve done well during these years but now it doesn’t work, we have to do something else.
‘Everyone has to do more. Simple. I have to, the players have to. Even the uncomfortable things and difficult things.’
