Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says his first season in the Premier League has not been good enough but promised “in the future I will be better”.<\/p>\n
City are fourth in the league following defeat at Chelsea on Wednesday, all but ending hopes of a league title in the Catalan’s debut campaign in England.<\/p>\n
“In future I will be better – definitely,” said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach.<\/p>\n
“This season has been a massive lesson for me.”<\/p>\n
He added: “We have a lot of beautiful things to fight for and to qualify for the Champions League will be a huge success. But we have to be honest with ourselves. We were not good enough to compete for the Premier League [title].”<\/p>\n
Defeat at Stamford Bridge left City just four points ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United, both of whom have a game in hand.<\/p>\n
With the FA Cup being City’s only realistic chance of winning a trophy this term, it is likely to be the worst season of Guardiola’s managerial career.<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old has never gone a single season without winning a trophy – he has won the title in six out of seven attempts and his sides have always reached the last four of the Champions League.<\/p>\n
Guardiola has also responded to questions about a row between City and Chelsea coaching staff at Stamford Bridge following the defeat on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
There have been conflicting claims about the precise nature of the row, but stewards were needed to calm the situation down after Chelsea’s 2-1 win.<\/p>\n
The incident centred around a disagreement between Chelsea fitness coach Paolo Bertelli and Manchester City masseur Mark Sertori, both of whom speak Italian, as the Premier League leaders celebrated their victory.<\/p>\n
Guardiola said: “We are so polite in our defeats and we are so polite when we win. When we win, normally we celebrate a little bit, then we go to the locker room.<\/p>\n
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was not involved and has played the incident down.<\/p>\n
He said: “Respect is the most important thing in football.”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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