I’ve Learnt the Most from This Trophyless Campaign, says Guardiola

Pep Guardiola says that he has improved as a manager since joining Manchester City, but fans have been left dissatisfied with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager’s first season at the club.

After arriving with a lot of fanfare in the summer, City are looking set to finish the season without any major trophies. The club have come close to titles on a few occasions, but they have been found wanting over the course of the campaign. After the 2-1 extra time defeat against Arsenal during the weekend, the only hope of silverware in the form of an FA Cup title disappeared.

The big objective for City will now be to finish in the top four with Manchester United hunting them down in the Premier League table with alarming consistency. United are unbeaten in the league since October, and they have been able to reduce the deficit upon City to just one point. City take on United in a crucial Manchester derby on Thursday night.

Even though this game is out of the Etihad stadium, Guardiola will have to be cautious about avoiding a defeat as it will be too late to recover a top four place from this position. After having achieved impeccable success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, this will be the first trophyless campaign for Guardiola. Yet, he says that the challenges that he has faced this season has helped him improve as a manager.

“I am not a worse manager because I didn’t win the title.I feel as though I’m a better manager than before because I learned a lot and am more experienced. I’ve learned to handle situations better than before.Normally when something happens for the first time you know why it is the first time, so for it to happen after nine years is amazing,” said Guardiola.