English Football
Struggling Guardiola shows how well Pellegrini performed
Manuel Pellegrini outperformed Pep Guardiola in his first year winning the Premier League and League Cup
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola’s first season in English football shows how his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini was under-estimated, says former City defender Martin Demichelis.
Guardiola appears set to finish a season without a trophy for the first time in his managerial career.
“You only have to look at City today to see nothing comes very easily even with a fantastic coach,” Demichelis said.
“As time goes on everyone will value the work that Manuel Pellegrini did.”
Pellegrini won the Premier League and League Cup in his first season at the club after joining from Malaga in June 2013.
He finished second behind Chelsea the following year and guided City to the Champions League semi-finals in his final campaign before his contract expired in the summer of 2016.
“As a foreign coach in his first season in the Premier League to win the title, naturally made him an important reference,” Demichelis, who also played under Pellegrini at River Plate and Malaga, told the World Football Show on BBC World Service.
With his team 11 points behind league leaders Chelsea with six games remaining, Guardiola is highly unlikely to replicate that feat.
Beaten in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final by Arsenal, eliminated in the Champions League last 16 by Monaco and knocked out of the League Cup by rivals Manchester United, it seems that City’s season is going to fall short of the Spaniard’s own standards.
City would drop out of the Premier League top four if they lose to United in Thursday’s derby at the Etihad Stadium.
“No silverware – it will not be a good season,” Guardiola said in March. “I knew that in August. Being a manager depends on results.
“I know what my standard was in the past and I know what is on my shoulders. I have to handle that.”
