Thierry Henry: It’s time to question Guardiola as Man. City’s failings continue
Manchester City’s on-pitch failings continue following their 2-1 home defeat to their Archrivals, Manchester United, on Sunday.
Amidst City’s poor run of results, Arsenal legend and football pundit Thierry Henry says now is the time to questions City’s boss Pep Guardiola.
During this poor run of results, Manchester City have lost eight of their last twelve matches and are on the verge of recording lowest goals scored in a season under the Spanish coach.
In the of Citizen’s 2-1 home defeat to the Red Devils, Thierry Henry says it is fair to “question” the City boss after Manchester City has further dropped nine points adrift the summit of the Premier League table.
City’s recruitment team made misguided decisions and wrongly sold Cole Palmer to Chelsea, contributing to the club’s struggles.
This analysis was held between Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher on Monday Night Football, discussing the Manchester City and Pep Guardiola amidst their ongoing disappointing results.
Thierry Henry was seen and heard unconvincingly siding with his former coach Pep Guardiola, but admitted that the Citizen’s boss can be questioned, at least, for the first time amid their disappointing outings.
Henry also questioned why the City boss had to let potent attacking players like Riyad Mahrez, Cole Palmer and Julian Alvarez leave Etihad without signing similar replacements.
He noted that the club will continue to struggle banging-in the goals as long as Erling Haaland continues to be a shadow of him former self.
City have now recorded eight losses in twelve matches following their recent 2-1 home defeat to their Archrivals, Manchester United on Sunday.
It’s Time To Question Guardiola – Thierry Henry.
The loss in Sunday’s Manchester derby has placed Man. City nine points behind the table-toppers, Liverpool, who still have a game in hand.
Though, Man. City’s defence has been made porous after they lost Rodri to injury, and they have also recorded undisputedly their lowest goal-per-game tally of a season since the arrival of Pep Guardiola.
According to Henry: “We all know, it’s the first time and we’re allowed to say it, that we can challenge his decisions in the way of letting Cole Palmer go, Riyad Mahrez, Julian Alvarez.”
“Ilkay Gundogan came back and it’s not the same Gundogan who scored 17 goals a season.
“You’re missing those goals. Erling Haaland is scoring the same goals, a few less than in his first season but he’s doing what he does usually.
“I’ve seen him miss sitters in every season but where are the goals of Mahrez, Alvarez or Kevin De Bruyne, Gundogan – where are those goals?”
The former Arsenal forward also said he did not anticipate the Spanish coach to resign weeks after extending his control with the Citizens to the summer of 2027.
Pep Guardiola was Henry’s coach at Barcelona, and the pair enjoyed stellar working relations, winning trophies.
The former French forward has thrown weight behind his former coach, citing rare level of consistency Guardiola has achieved since the start of his coaching career.
Following the defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, Pep Guardiola said during the post-match media conference that he is ‘not good enough.’
The defeat which made it fifth time City would lose in the Premier League this season.
It’s Time To Question Guardiola – Thierry Henry.
He said: “One thing I will say about this team, it’s the first time it’s happening like this to him in his career.
“Let’s not kill the guy or this team because of what’s happening.
“You can never say never [that he could quit] – but Pep is not that type of coach.
“He is really, really hard, and mean and intense when you win, because he wants to keep you there. And he’s more nice when he’s down.
“You can see when the team didn’t play well, he will come out and say ‘I love my team, they played really well tonight’.
“And sometimes he will come on the pitch and have a go at his team when they won 3-0, you can see him arguing that someone who missed a pass.
“I like that. You change when you’re at the top, you try to change so you can stay there. Once you are here, you’re trying to be the nice guy now.”
Carragher: Pep Needs To Rebuild
Jamie Carragher, a Sky Sport pundit, emphasized that City’s struggles highlight the urgent need for a major team rebuild.
The Citizens need squad rebuild now. Through their team evolution had appeared seamless in the past seasons, after having to replace the club key figures and legends, including Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany during Guardiola’s reign at Manchester City.
It’s Time To Question Guardiola – Thierry Henry.
“It’s the first time it feels like a rebuild, even though there has been but they’ve been so successful they haven’t missed the players you’re talking about,” he said.
“This is something every club has gone through. You look at Jurgen Klopp a couple of years ago, Man Utd under Sir Alex Ferguson where you look at it and think it’s going to take them a couple of years to get back to what they were.
“Because Pep is that good, you’ve never felt like it was a rebuild even though it was,” He added
As Manchester City’s failings continue, do you think that Guardiola’s team still have a chance of lifting the English Premier League trophy or sit in-between the top-four teams at the end of the season?
Fans anxiously await the team’s on-field turnaround, crossing their fingers for a much-needed breakthrough.
It’s Time To Question Guardiola – Thierry Henry.