- Manchester City trail Liverpool by 16 points after the champions’ wheels fell off
- But Pep Guardiola has pointed out one record the Reds cannot reach this season
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Will Liverpool recover from Everton blow in season-defining week?
Pep Guardiola has taken a cheeky dig at Liverpool, insisting even the runaway Premier League leaders can’t match his Manchester City side’s 100-point record.
City chalked up the staggering tally during the 2017-18 season in their first top-flight triumph under Guardiola and so far no team has been able to match or surpass it.
This campaign, the champions’ bid for a fifth successive league crown collapsed in explosive fashion and they now trail Arne Slot‘s side by 16 points.
But even if the Reds do get over the line, they will still be unable to repeat City’s feat.
‘We took all the records in England,’ said Guardiola. ‘Who would do 100 points now in modern football? I’m waiting. Or four in a row? I’m waiting – with clubs like Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves that you have to play.
‘The standards, we dictated. Have you seen Liverpool this season?
Pep Guardiola has taken a cheeky dig at Liverpool despite Manchester City’s woes
The Reds cannot match City’s 100-point record even if they win the league title this season
‘They cannot do 100 points already – 99 but not 100.’
Guardiola also accepted City have gone off the boil this season, adding: ‘I asked Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) yesterday, “two years ago you were here, you were one year in Barcelona and you come back here, did you see changes in the Premier League?”
‘He said massively, the difference was unbelievable. It’s the truth. The teams are much, much, much better in all departments. People prepare so well.
‘We cannot do it for the (injury) problems we’ve had. There are a lot of players, with the amount of minutes they have had, who are so tired, emotionally as well.
‘But guys, we deserve to have a bad season.
‘We deserve not to be like we were. They are human beings, it can happen. We weren’t consistent and we haven’t had the players at their best.
‘It’s the first time that me and many of the players have lived this position but we have to accept it (and recognise) what happened in the past was not normal.’
City also face an uphill battle to progress to the Champions League last-16 after their 3-2 home defeat in the first leg of their knockout round play-off.
Arne Slot’s side hold a 16-point advantage over City despite their 2-2 draw at Everton
Guardiola admitted City ‘deserve to have a bad season’ after going off the boil this year
He also believes his side cannot sustain performances for the full 90 minutes
‘We cannot sustain it for 90 minutes, that’s right,’ said Guardiola. ‘We are in this posotion because we are not good enough.
‘In the second half against Madrid, when they keep the ball and start to play, play, play, we regain the ball and want to – in two seconds – try to score a goal. We lose the ball and then [Kylian] Mbappe and Vinicius run even more.
‘During the big, big success of the team we were able to do sequences of 20, 25, 30 passes in the opponents half – now we are not able to do that.
‘Before we had the confidence to play with the ball and now we suffer when we have the ball. We take risks and make mistakes – that didn’t happen in previous years.
‘I accept that when the opponents have the ball, I’m going to suffer. But now we are suffering when we have the ball. It never happened before.’
