Former Arsenal and Chelsea star Emmanuel Petit has hit out at Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, claiming he looks “clueless on the bench”.
Guardiola has been a revelation in the Premier League, but he is enduring a poor season as Man City’s title hopes ended before the New Year. They are currently involved in a tight battle for Champions League qualification.
The Spaniard’s long-term future was in doubt at the start of this season as he entered the final year of his contract, but he opted to pen an extension towards the end of 2024.
Guardiola may be regretting this decision as a huge squad rebuild is required and it remains to be seen whether he has the necessary energy to see out this project.
The Man City bloss has also split with his wife, and the media attempted to blame this for the club’s decline around the New Year.
Now, Petit claims “something is broken” with Guardiola, and this could be linked with his divorce.
“Something has been broken with him,” Petit said.
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“I don’t want to talk about his private matters, but I think what happened outside the pitch, maybe had a big impact on him. Maybe the players saw that.
“I’m not there at the Manchester City training ground, but when you look at this team, they are not the same team from the last few years.
“We’re talking about guys that just won the Premier League, and we’re talking about a team and a manager that’s supposed to play at the highest standards domestically and in Europe, but we haven’t seen it.
“The way they’ve fallen apart at the same time has been shocking to watch. They’ve lost so many games.”
Petit also claims this version of Man City is giving onlookers “something new” with Guardiola “clueless on the bench”.
“His best players at Manchester City have not performed well this season. So many players are so far away from their usual standards. I think it’s quite a shock to see the difference between last season, something has broken at the club,” Petit added.
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“I think a lot of players looked tired mentally and physically this season and starting with Pep Guardiola as well on the bench.
“He showed it so many times. He lost his temper. He showed so many times that he was not controlling his emotion on the pitch and off the pitch as well. He’s had so many arguments with his players at the end of games this season.
“Against Brighton with the goalkeeper, the way he scratched his head as well, you could see that something wrong was happening to the team.
“The way he was sometimes clueless as well on the bench. He was not able to find the right solution. This is something that was new for me to watch because I always saw that he always had ideas to find solutions, answers to his team problems. And this season I think he was not able to do that.”
