Guardiola won the league in his first seasons at Barcelona and
Bayern Munich, but his City side lie 10 points below leaders Chelsea.
Liverpool's
midfielder Sadio Mane (L) vies with Manchester City's midfielder Yaya
Toure during the English Premier League football match December 31, 2016
Pep Guardiola does not believe his first season as Manchester City manager should be classed as a failure if he cannot guide the team to Premier League glory.
Guardiola won the league in his first seasons at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but his City side lie 10 points below leaders Chelsea and in fifth place after Saturday's 1-0 loss at Liverpool.
He
does not see winning the league as the be-all and end-all of City's
season, however, and says he is relishing the new challenge of being the
hunter rather than the hunted.
"We
have put a lot of stress about, 'Oh, if you don't win the Premier
League, that is going to be not a good season'," he told reporters after
the New Year's Eve defeat at Anfield.
"No,
in that situation we're going to analyse what happened at the end of
the season, what was good, what was bad. Now it's just focus on the next
game against Burnley.
"I was always on
top, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But OK, this is a new chapter in my
career as a manager to handle that and I am willing to try it with these
guys."
Manchester
City's manager Pep Guardiola gestures on the pitch after the English
Premier League football match against Manchester City December 31, 2016(AFP)
Chelsea
have surged clear at the summit on the back of a 13-game winning
streak, but Guardiola does not believe their points advantage is
insurmountable.
"I was one time nine
points (behind) with Barcelona, against Real Madrid I think," said the
Catalan, whose side host Burnley on Monday.
"It was in February or in March and after we recover until (the gap was only) four (when Madrid won the league in 2012).
"But the question is, are we able to take the gap to Chelsea? Now what we have to do is believe in the next game."
Jesus jets in
In
contrast to his early experiences with Barcelona and Bayern, Guardiola
is yet to have a transformative effect on City's fortunes.
City's
style of play has evolved, reflecting the importance Guardiola places
on dominating possession, but they have lost four times already in the
league and have struggled defensively.
Jurgen Klopp,
Guardiola's former Borussia Dortmund adversary, has had over a year to
remould Liverpool and the City manager said it would take him time to
achieve similar results.
"I don't know, I'm not able to say that," Guardiola replied when asked how long it will take for City to become his team.
Liverpool's
midfielder Roberto Firmino (R) jumps for the ball with Manchester
City's defender John Stones (L) during the English Premier League
football match December 31, 2016(AFP)
"Jurgen
is here more than one season, one year. It's just five months for me.
The way we want to play in this league is not that simple.
"We need a little bit more time. But I'm a guy who's so optimistic and we are going to try."
City's
attempt to chase down Chelsea will be bolstered by the arrival of
Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus following his £27 million ($33 million, 32
million euros) transfer from Palmeiras.
The 19-year-old was due to arrive in Manchester this weekend and Guardiola expects him to make a swift impact.
"He was three years without holidays, he's fit, he's young," said Guardiola.
"It was just two or three weeks not training so I don't think we'll be (waiting) too much time (for him) to be fit."
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