Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he would not walk away but remain at the Etihad Stadium to steer City out of troubled waters.
A nightmare run of nine defeats in 13 games, with just one win in that woeful spell, triggered suggestions the City boss could decide to quit if he cannot find an answer to his team’s problems. He insisted that he would resign after recently signing a two-year contract.
“I will try; I will keep going. Sometimes you think the bad run will be ended earlier or it would be easier to fix it, but it takes more time,” said the coach who led City to six Premier League titles in the past seven seasons.
“I will not give up. I want to be here. I want to do it and, with the situation that we have, we have to do it.
“Of course I want it, everyone wants it. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this club.
“I think all of us in our job want to do it well and please the people. That is undeniable, not a question mark.
“The biggest test is to come back again, but we have done that before.”
Injuries have been a major factor in City’s demise, leaving them languishing in seventh place in the Premier League.
City still have doubts over the fitness of a number of players as they bid to get back to winning ways at struggling Leicester on Sunday.
“Sometimes you have injuries,” Guardiola said. “For how many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, we’re a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured.
“But I saw the team spirit, how we trained this week, how focused they are, how they try to practise.” AFP
