Manchester City’s dressing room was understandably sombre before Pep Guardiola’s riot act inspired a second-half comeback against Tottenham.
The champions were staring down the barrel of a second defeat in five days when the North Londoners took a 2-0 lead, firmly against the run of play. City were booed off at the interval as they look to chase down Premier League leaders Arsenal, who had an eight-point lead before the game.
For all City’s possession and territory, they were unable to breakdown their opponents, and faced the prospect of falling further behind in the title race. Jack Grealish admitted there was little chat going on in the dressing room before Guardiola addressed the group.
The England star said: “It wasn’t the best dressing room at half-time, it was silent for a little while at the start. The manager spoke to us, gave us some encouragement and I thought we were brilliant in the second half.”
Riyad Mahrez, who scored two goals, was then quizzed on whether he thought about the gap to Arsenal: “You think about everything really, everything goes through your head. I think we played good in the first-half, so when we came in at half-time we were frustrated. But we knew, as we’ve done it before, that we could come back and we showed what we are.”
Guardiola, who was animated on the touchline as he celebrated the dramatic turnaround, has taken aim at his players. The Catalan is targeting a third league title on the trot but admitted his side are a far cry from the outfit he wants them to be.
He said: “I want a reaction – not just from players, staff, the whole organisation,” he explained. “We are a happy flowers team, I don’t want this. I want to beat Arsenal. I cannot deny how happy we are [to win]. But we are far away from the team that we were.
“There are many things that we are far away, far away. We play because ‘my manager told me to do this and this’ – but there is nothing from the stomach, the guts. We were lucky, and if we don’t change, sooner or later we are going to drop points. No passion, fire, desire to win from minute one.”
The concern for Arsenal though will be, with City clearly not firing on all cylinders and giving their opponents a chance, that their rivals can still pick up three points. Tottenham, who have been seriously out of form, threatened to win at the Etihad for the second time in as many seasons.
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Manchester City FC via Getty Ima)
Arsenal will take on Manchester United this weekend, who themselves have slim hopes of the title. Defeat would open the door for City, with the two sides yet to play this term. Their original game was postponed earlier this season but they will square off in the league for the first time in February.
Before that Guardiola and Arteta will renew their rivalry when they play in the FA Cup later this month. The Catalan is aware that the Gunners’ young squad will be hungry to claim success – many of them for the first time.
He said: “We’ve won the league in four of the last five years. Arsenal haven’t won it for two decades and none of their players – except for (Gabriel) Jesus and (Oleksandr) Zinchenko – who’ve won the Premier League. As a result, they’re killing every action of the game.”
