PA Media/dpa
Manchester
Pep Guardiola has vowed not to change his approach as he bids to arrest Manchester City’s alarming slump in form.
The City boss accepts his side were always likely to suffer a downturn in fortunes at some point but is confident they will produce a strong response - starting with Tuesday’s Champions League home game with Feyenoord.
The English champions have lost their last five matches in all competitions, their worst run since 2006 and a spell unprecedented in Guardiola’s glittering managerial career.
Saturday’s defeat, a 4-0 thrashing by a Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium that ended a 52-game unbeaten home run, was particularly galling, but the City boss will not alter his tactical philosophy.
Guardiola told a news conference on Monday: “What should I change? If I should change in the first season maybe we would not win seven Premier Leagues in eight years - impossible. I am not going to change.
“The success we have had, we are big believers in the process and the fundamentals we have to do.
“What we have to believe is the players who are injured come back to their best form, the players who have played a lot of minutes because of the injuries get some rest and we get one good result which can change our mind.
“This shall pass. Nothing is eternal.” Kevin De Bruyne meanwhile says there is no rush to resolve his future at City.
The Belgium playmaker is out of contract at the end of the season but he is primarily focused on returning to full fitness.
The 33-year-old, who missed a large spell last season, has had an injury-hit start to the current campaign and has not started a game in more than two months.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” De Bruyne said when asked about his future at the press conference.
“Obviously when I started the season I knew things would happen and talks would happen. I had a conversation already in the summer but then obviously I had the injury.
“So really I was not in the right frame of mind to speak about that.
I really want to be good and be back where I need to be on the pitch and be myself again, and then there’s no rush also.
“I don’t feel uncomfortable in my situation. I just want to play football and I’m not really worried. I’ve put basically everything to the side. I was hoping to be out for a couple of days and it ended up being eight or nine weeks.”
Guardiola hopes to soon have De Bruyne back to full fitness after a horror run of five successive defeats in all competitions.
He said: “He is fighting to come back to his best but he’s not 24, 25, 26 or 27. He will need time to be in the rhythm to play 90 minutes.
“After that, Kevin will give us something that is unique. Of course we need him.” Guardiola, who was also due out of contract at the end of the season, signed his own extension last week.
He said: “Kevin, I’m pretty sure, will be honest. He will want to finish here after this season or the next one, or the next one, at his best.”
“I don’t think he will be here when he believes he doesn’t feel he can be the Kevin that can produce and help the team like he has done in the last decade.”
