Clique Bug Bites Guardiola Too : Two Coaches Beaten By Two Former Clubs As Their Woes Continue To Deepen By The Week

It seems the bug that bit Mourihno has bitten Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola. Reality has caught up with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach. His demeanor after Sunday’s match against Southampton accentuated the spell that’s possibly following them—as both lost 4-0 to their former clubs within a week.

Five matches with no wins obviously, convey a message that’s perhaps as dreadful as the canny hidden blood-sucking bug. And the bug is subtly eating up the image and flamboyance of the celebrated coach who is credited with 14 trophies in his coaching career.

Indeed, three draws, two losses and no wins in five successive matches send wrong signal.

On September 28, City drew 3-3 with Celtic in the Uefa championship league, lost 2-0 to Tottenham (in October 2^nd) and tied 1-1 with Everton on Saturday October 5. But perhaps the loss that came on Saturday October 15, (4-0 to Barca) dealt a heavy blow to the City’s manager and as though that wasn’t enough Guardiola couldn’t redeem himself, yesterday as his side again drew 1-1 in the match against the Saints.

This is the second time in Guardiola’s managerial career that he’d suffered such losses, according to BBC sports.

But this could just be a tip of the iceberg. Or it could be interpreted as the beginning of the wrath to come. And I guess no one has warned the charismatic coach to flee from the ire that awaits him at the City’s gates.

I think Guardiola should be reminded that he’s in England, not in Spain and not in Germany. And if he didn’t know that he should ask Mourihno—a living testimony.

So far, the City manager has demonstrated that he’s a stick in the mud---not ready to change his tactics, not ready to bring onboard the horses that helped pulled the wagon from the woods and certainly not ready to listen to an outsider. This scenario put City supporters on pins and needles oblivious to the way forward.

Are they (Man City) backpedaling?
Looks like it. They’re behaving like a nose dive jet.

Nonetheless, Man City are still on top of the league table, not as comfortable as they found themselves three weeks back. They lead Arsene Wenger’s side (Arsenal) only by a goal difference and two over Liverpool . All three teams have 20 points apiece.

Guardiola took charge in June after former Italian manager Manuel Pellegrini exited Etihad estate. And he’d agreed to a three-year contract with the blues. City started well. They played like a team that was all for it—winning 10 straight games. Like Chelsea did during Mourihno’s comeback era in 2015. They seemed unstoppable and appeared unmatched by their peers.

But what went wrong?
It’s the clique bug and not until the two managers address this problem they would join the Black Stars of the 80’s, 90’s and the early or mid-2000’s. At the time, Ghana had the best of the best but still produced the worst results in the nation’s football history.

They say Guardiola likes to do things his own way. Well, here’s my six pence advice: Sometimes the rules don’t work or aren’t applicable everywhere. In cases like that change is required. The need to tweak things and accommodate others is more than welcome. That doesn’t make one a weakling. It rather creates a win-win situation.

In the meantime, all eyes are watching closely to see how things would pan out going forward. And I would like to repeat that this is England. At the City’s gates intense anger is shaping up. Patience is losing traction…And if this continues he could face the resentment that the ‘Special One’ suffered at the Stanford Bridge.

However, the upcoming fixtures seem to tilt in City’s favour albeit dicey. The Etihad men have five away matches (out of seven) against Manchester United, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Burnley and German club Monchengladbach. They will entertain Messi side and Middleborough at home

This is Guardiola’s track record: At Barcelona he sidelined Brazilian duo--Ronaldinho and Deco. And five-time African footballer of the year Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimović later would later suffer similar fate. It’s also on record Guardiola sanctioned Yaya Toure’s 24 million pound departure to city.

The pattern would follow him to Germany. At Bayern Munich it was the veteran doctor Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt and the like of Mario Mandzukic, Xherdan Shaqiri, Dante and eventually Bastian Schweinsteiger that would face Guardiola’s sharp teeth.

And the beat goes on. Since he took the reins of City several big names have gone missing in his selected eleven and substitute side. England goal keeper Joe Hart was axed off even before the league began, whereas Yahaya Toure,’ City captain and Belgian international Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero are out of the perking order.

About three weeks ago I told a good friend of mine, who is Manchester United ardent supporter that despite Pep Guardiola’s early superb performance at the EPL, the renowned manager would see a big dip in not too distant future.

In fact I predicted the blip might occur even before end of the first half of the league .And here we are!

But is there an antidote?
My suggestion, bring back the ‘heroes’. They might not be in their best form but their inclusion would end the apathy and division in the team. They wield power and influence, plus they’ve got the experience. They can help make the team and can break it too.

The question is: What the heck are the likes of Toure, Aguero, and Bastian Schweinsteiger doing at the bench?

The German international signed a three-year 200,000 pound- a-week contract with United last summer. But all he does is wear a United shirt. In fact, haven’t even sighted him at the bench since his arrival at the Old Trafford.

Mourihno and Guardiola appear to be playing same cards and the results are troubling to put it lightly. Remember, I mentioned the cliques in my previous article about Ghana’s national team the Black Stars: And I’m afraid that’s probably the bug that has bitten the two coaches.

The Black Stars had two most powerful players—Abedi Pele (captain) and Tony Yeboah aka Yegoala (who once captained Frankfurt, German club) ’.Rumor had it that the two weren’t in good terms and they’d cliques in the team. Though both denied the allegation, there was a shred of truth in that rumor or perception.

Bottom line you can’t win a football match with a divided team, with no clear understanding and purposefulness. Be reminded the cliques always play to the tune of their idols.