Pep Guardiola admits this season has been the toughest of his 16 as a manager.
The Spaniard has experienced little but success in a glittering career that has taken in glorious spells at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
The going has been much tougher this term as, after four successive Premier League triumphs, City failed to challenge for the title and crashed out of the Champions League prematurely.
They can still finish the campaign with the handsome prizes of a top-five spot and the FA Cup, while they have an additional shot at silverware at the Club World Cup.
Yet even if they succeed in these remaining and relatively modest aims, it will not change Guardiola’s verdict of the season as a whole.
“It’s been the most difficult, that’s for sure,” said the 54-year-old, who has won 18 trophies with City and 39 across his managerial career.
“It’s been more demanding – much more. When you don’t win it’s more demanding emotionally and (in terms of) preparing and the moods and everything.
“It’s been more difficult than the previous seasons when we played for the titles.”
Injuries – particularly to midfield linchpin Rodri – have been a big factor in City’s decline this season while a number of individuals have suffered a drop in form.
Guardiola does not absolve himself from blame on that front.
He said: “We had a lot of injuries, we didn’t have the energy. We tried most of the time but we were not able to do it.
“I didn’t find the way to let them feel comfortable and winning the games that would help us to win more games.
“I’m disappointed in myself when it’s not going well. I have to prove myself again and again. Life doesn’t live from memories.”
A lot of the damage for City was done in a 13-game spell at the back end of 2024 in which they won just once and lost nine times in all competitions.
Even after that, performances remained patchy and a defeat at Nottingham Forest in March was a 15th in 30 games.
Yet they have not lost again since and, with second place still within reach, the season could end on a positive note.
Guardiola, whose side travel to Southampton on Saturday, said: “We didn’t win one game for many months and we were unable to win a lot of games.
“It’s a business, you have to win games. You have to do your job as best as possible and, this season, we didn’t do that. We were in the highest standards and we dropped it.
“But, even with that, I would say, it could be worse. I was not good enough to find a way but we didn’t give up.
“We’re still fighting to qualify for the Champions League – that is a big, big prize – and the FA Cup.”
