Manchester City forward Riyad Mahrez has opened up on Pep Guardiola’s comments regarding not caring about Premier League. After Manchester City 2-1 lost to United, the manager appeared to concede the title to Arsenal.
After the defeat to the United, Guardiola spoke. He said:
“I don’t care about the Premier League and the Carabao Cup, we cannot win. We won a lot, so it’s not a problem.”
Manchester City got back in the winning game after the derby with a 4-2 comeback win against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday (January 20). Spurs were leading at halftime, thanks to each goal from Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal. However, City managed to boun back after half-time through Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez. Mahrez then scored twice to seal the victory at Etihad. City now are five points behind Arsenal having played one more game.
Mahrez explained Guardiola’s comments
Mahrez explained that Guardiola’s comments was just a way to motivate the players. While speaking to talkSPORT, he said:
“He will say this to us.”
“He wants us to be how we are, how we did mostly in the game today, more in the second half because when we are like this it’s difficult to beat us, and then what happens will happen.”
“At the end, like he said, and like he says all the time to us, we have to be what we are and achieve as a team, and then let’s see where it takes us.”
Despite the comeback against Spurs, Guardiola was frustrated by his players. The Spanish coach believes that the city players lacked the passion and hunger to win the game.
He said:
“Playing with this lack of passion, this season I can announce we are not going to win anything, [We lacked] guts, passion, fire, desire to win from minute one. The same with the fans, they are silent for 45 minutes. I want my fans back. The fans have to shout.”
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