Pep Guardiola: ‘Job is done’ but Manchester City boss says he can still take criticism

Pep Guardiola feels “the job is done” after Manchester City’s recent success, but says he has no problem accepting criticism when his side is not winning.

City lifted the Fifa Club World Cup last week but have faltered in the Premier League so far this season.

The Treble winners are fifth in the table, with a game in hand, and visit Everton in the league on Wednesday.

“Now we go to the shop, buy another book and start to write again,” said Guardiola on his side’s trophy haul.

City’s Treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League last season was followed by the Uefa Super Cup in August.

The 4-0 win against Brazilians Fluminense in Saudi Arabia gave City their fifth trophy of the calendar year – making them the first English club to achieve the feat.

“I have a feeling the job is done,” Guardiola said. “I thought about when we won the Champions League but then I thought ‘Super Cup, we don’t have it, World Cup, we don’t have it’.

“Now we have everything.”

This season, City have reached the last 16 of the Champions League – where they will face Copenhagen – with two games to spare and a 100% record.

But heading into the busy league period, Guardiola finds his side on 34 points, six behind leaders Arsenal, with only one win in the previous six top-flight games.

“When you don’t win, you are nothing, zero,” he said. “They are waiting around the corner. People say ‘you don’t accept criticism’. It is part of the job.

“If you are in the business of being a football manager, you have to accept people will criticise you just because you don’t win. OK, we have to try and win the next game.

“What you have done in the past, as much as you win, the more they want you to fail.

“I have felt that since the day we won the sextuple with Barcelona [in 2009]. But the titles we have won are unbelievable.

“People give credit just because we win. You have to look further than that. The moment we don’t win, they will pick apart absolutely everything.

“But that is what is nice. It is OK. We go again and we will see what happens.”

In the league since 12 November, City have drawn with Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Crystal Palace, picked up a 2-1 victory against Luton Town after going a goal down and fallen to a 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa.

Guardiola felt his side played “incredibly well” in the drawn fixtures, but as City did not convert these matches into wins, he said the club’s form would be perceived as “a disaster, a crisis, everything”.

He did, however, acknowledge Villa “were better” when Unai Emery’s side bet them at Villa Park in early December.