Pep Guardiola concurs with Erik ten Hag’s view that injuries are the primary cause of Manchester United’s challenging season.
Manchester United broke several records for all the wrong reasons, culminating in their worst-ever Premier League standing.
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Despite the possibility of an FA Cup triumph at Wembley on Saturday, Ten Hag is rumored to be on the brink of dismissal from Old Trafford, regardless of the match’s result.
The club has shown interest in various managerial prospects, having been in talks with Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna and contemplating discussions with Mauricio Pochettino post-Chelsea.
While Guardiola refrained from directly opposing Ten Hag’s potential sacking, he did express agreement with the Dutchman’s analysis of United’s season difficulties.
‘In the big clubs, when you don’t win, always you are in trouble,’ Guardiola said at his FA Cup final press conference. ‘That’s not a secret. I would be in trouble if we didn’t win.
‘He’s done very, very good things and I have huge respect for his job in the past.
‘I completely agree when I listen to him say he hasn’t had a full squad all season and has had a lot, a lot of injuries.
‘They should think this is the reason why. Players have to be fit otherwise you cannot use them.
‘They’ve had a lot of problems and then the manager has suffered a lot. I think the squad is really good but when players are injured you cannot use them.’
Asked directly if he had been surprised by how poor United have been, Guardiola added: ‘I’m not there. I’m pretty sure they know the realise why.
‘For me, it’s a lot of injuries. If I lose a lot of central defenders I would be in trouble. I think this is the reality.’
Guardiola is setting his sights on a new milestone, aiming for Manchester City to be the inaugural team to secure consecutive domestic doubles, following their historic four consecutive Premier League titles.
The 2024 FA Cup final marks a rematch of the previous year’s final, where City emerged victorious with a 2-1 win over the same rivals.
‘It is football, it’s never happened before in our history [repeat derby finals] and two years, two times in a row,’ Guardiola said.
‘We respect United, always like that for history. In last decade we have been better but in terms of history you have to of course have to respect them massively. What they feel like I don’t know, I’m not there.
‘We play FA Cup [and] we can do back to back doubles, we have [a] chance to do this.
‘The FA Cup for itself is FA Cup, Wembley, all our fans going to London. It’s the last game of season, last effort.
‘We travel, everyone. I’m impressed how good we have trained after a few days off, so focused, everyone wants to be involved, we will do our best for sure.’
