Chronicle Editor
MANCHESTER. — Manuel Pellegrini has finally blamed the early announcement of Pep Guardiola’s arrival as his successor for the defeats which knocked Manchester City out of the English Premier League soccer title race.
City confirmed the signing of Bayern Munich boss Guardiola on Monday February 1, after Pellegrini had announced at the end of a pre-match press conference he’d be leaving in the summer — and then lost home games to championship-chase rivals Leicester and Spurs in the following fortnight.
The Etihad outfit won only one of six Premier League matches from February 6 onwards, until the victory at Bournemouth on April 2.
And the outgoing Chilean coach claimed it took time to re-establish stability before their current five-match unbeaten run which has seen them through to the Champions League semi-final and back into the top four.
After Saturday’s crushing 3-0 away win at outgoing champions Chelsea, Pellegrini ended his diplomatic stance over his sacking by claiming: “Of course for different reasons we lost important games in February, against Leicester and Tottenham — two games which do not allow us to be involved in the title.
“I am frustrated because we never expected to lose those games at home against Leicester and Tottenham. But there are a lot of reasons why those things happened, it’s not normal in the way we are going to finish the season.” — The Mirror.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter