"I will not give up, I want to be here" - Pep Guardiola speaks on Manchester City's poor run of form ahead of Leicester clash

Pep Guardiola has vowed to push on amid Manchester City’s poor run of form as he strives to restore the team’s lost spark. The Spanish manager refused to point fingers at any of his players for their dip in form and claimed that the nosedive in results was a result of losing many players to injury.

Manchester City are currently going through arguably their poorest run of form as they’ve lost nine of their last 13 matches across competitions. They dropped points at home against Everton in the Premier League on December 26 and currently sit in the seventh position on the league table.

They will face Leicester City in their next game on Sunday, December 29. Ahead of the match, Guardiola revealed that he remains determined to end Manchester City’s poor run of form. He said (via Mirror):

“Of course I want it, everyone wants it,” said Guardiola. I will not give up. I want to be here, I want to do it and with the situation we have I have to do it. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this place. It’s not just now, it’s since I arrived [in football] as a player and then a manager. I think all of us in our job want to do it well and to please the people.

''That is undeniable or no question mark. It’s easy to understand. The biggest test now is to come back again – that has already happened - we have done that before. That makes you remember how good the past was, that’s the truth. This makes you realize how good it is what we have done in the past.

“Sometimes you have injuries. For many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, we are a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured. But I saw the team spirit, how we train, how focused they are and how they try to practice. We saw that against Everton but unfortunately we couldn’t get a result. But it is what it is. I prefer it wasn’t this situation, but it is what it is. We have to try to be as calm as possible and see what we can do better in the next game, with players coming back. That’s what we want to try and that’s all I want to do.”

''I don’t know how to relate it'' – Pep Guardiola on comparing Manchester City’s current team to the City team that lost 4-2 to Leicester in his first season at the Etihad

Pep Guardiola has addressed comparisons between the current Manchester City squad and the team that suffered a humbling 4-2 defeat to Leicester City during his first season at the Etihad in 2016.

Reflecting on the journey his team has undergone since that period, Guardiola expressed his reservations about drawing parallels between the two situations, emphasizing the significant evolution his team has experienced over the years.

Speaking to the media, the Manchester City manager said (via City Xtra):

“Well comparing one situation to eight, nine years ago, I don’t know if it’s fair enough. I don’t know how to relate it from one to the other one. That season was the first year with more or less the squad there, I don’t know in what month it was, it was a low point, right? But after we built what we built and now I don’t see similarities, to be honest. I don’t see it.”

Guardiola’s time at City has been marked with remarkable successes as he has won six Premier League titles since his arrival at the club.