Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola is beginning to sound like he's out of energy and ideas at Manchester City
"I am not good enough." It's a phrase you would never expect to come out of Pep Guardiola's mouth but in another engrossing and engaging press conference, the Manchester City manager looked beaten after seeing his side chuck away a crucial derby day victory.
Guardiola has become a strangely captivating figure in recent weeks. It's often the case that managers become more interesting in media commitments when their teams are struggling rather than when they are flying. It's true of Guardiola, who has been introspective, emotional and open as he has discussed City's difficulties during a win of one win in 11 games.
He was the former on Sunday, when assessing another defeat in an alarming run. "I am completely convinced what I am saying that I am not good enough to find a way that players feel peace in their bodies and minds to play," he said. It's a quote that offers up more questions than it does answers.
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There has been defiance during this run, but his tone is beginning to change. Listening to him in recent weeks, you are starting to ask why he has signed that two-year contract extension. It's easy to look at and listen to him and feel the obligation of rebuilding the team is a higher calling than enjoying what he is still doing.
That is never going to work for Guardiola, and if that feeling begins to seep into the dressing room, then there will be a problem. When the City players hear their manager say he doesn't have an answer after Sunday's derby defeat, it will only add to their own uncertainties.
The 53-year-old has signed a new deal until the end of the 2026/27 season, and he has never broken a contract before, but time and again, he has said City's powerbrokers will sack him if results don't improve. Nobody expects they will, but they could initiate a conversation that gets Guardiola to reflect on whether he has the energy to rebuild this squad. Or the man himself could come to that conclusion.
In terms of emotion and energy, he sounds like someone reaching the end of his resources. Take his interview with Spanish chef Dani Garcia, released last week but recorded before the Tottenham defeat.
Asked if he could see himself managing another club, Guardiola said: "I wouldn't have the energy. The thought of starting somewhere else, all the process of training and so on. No, no, no.
"I want to leave it and go and play golf. I think stopping then would do me good."
This isn't quite starting afresh, but it's not far off. Something is broken at City, and it all needs Guardiola's genius to fix it, as well as a sizeable investment in the transfer market. For Guardiola to be at his best, he needs energy and a thirst for a challenge.
Perhaps it's no surprise this is how he is reacting to a run of this magnitude. A managerial career three short of 950 games has never had a run like this. To try and put it into context, more than 11% of his defeats as City manager have come in the last six-and-a-half weeks.
For all that the game has taught him, this is a lesson he has yet to learn: How do you drag a team out of a prolonged slump? He started this run by talking about injuries and fitness, which remain a concern, but it is beginning to feel bigger than that.
The post-match comments from Ilkay Gundogan last week and Bernardo Silva on Sunday hint at that. There is exasperation within the squad. This group has enjoyed so much success together, but they've never had to unite around a cause like this. It isn't easy to suddenly change those dynamics.
It needs Guardiola to lead that, to bring everyone back together under a common purpose. This season is still salvageable, but it needs the manager to be the figurehead, to bang the drum and lead the fight. Instead, he looks and sounds broken right now.
This week feels like a potentially defining one for City's season and for Guardiola. They have a couple of days off at the start of it and then a long run into Saturday's game at Aston Villa. That run of training sessions and the break will allow for some rest.
Guardiola is at his best on the training pitches. City will hope that this week will refresh him as well. We might understand whether it has worked when he pulls up a chair on Friday afternoon to preview the trip to Villa Park. If he can find a more upbeat and defiant tone, it could help change the mood.