Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola turned on his players for lacking passion and said the club’s supporters were “silent” in an extraordinary rant following the champions’ 4-2 comeback victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday.
City fell 2-0 behind by halftime at the Etihad Stadium, facing the prospect of suffering back-to-back league defeats for the first time since 2018, but roared back in the second half riding goals by Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland plus a double from Riyad Mahrez. Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal had given Spurs a 2-0 victory.
Despite a much-needed win that moved City five points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League standings, Guardiola was not happy.
“Passion, fire and desire to want to win were missing from the first minute,” Guardiola said. “Our fans were silent for 45 minutes. We are far away from the team that we were. There are many things that we are far away.
“It is not one single player, everyone is there. It is everyone, as soon as we realise it, we will come back. Our fans must must demand more, have to shout. Today (Thursday) we were lucky but nine times, 10 times you don’t come back.
“I want a reaction from all — the club, the organisation, the players, the staff. We are a happy flowers team. I don’t want to be a happy flowers, I want to beat Arsenal but if we play in that way Arsenal will destroy, they will beat us.”
Guardiola was not done there as he also took aim at critics who say that his lack of a European trophy during his time at City means his overall record in England, where he has won four Premier League crowns, is not successful.
“We have had a lot of success,” he added. “People say ‘no, he is not successful, as he has not won the Champions League’. Bullshit.”
Tottenham Hotspur coach Antonio Conte the defeat was due to the lack of experience in the team, before insisting he remained committed to the club in the long term. “You never lose this type of game with more experience,” said Conte.
“You don’t buy experience. Well... you could buy experience. But we have to buy experience step-by-step, year-by-year. It’s not good to concede four goals in one half.”
