Pep Guardiola has pledged to step aside if he fails to turn around Manchester City’s poor run of form.
The City boss is enduring the worst run of his glittering managerial career after a six-game winless streak featuring five successive defeats and a calamitous 3-3 draw in a match his side had led 3-0.
The 53-year-old, who has won 18 trophies since taking charge at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, signed a contract extension through to the summer of 2027 just over a week ago.
Yet, despite his remarkable successes, he still considers himself vulnerable to the sack and has pleaded with the club to keep faith.
“I don’t want to stay in the place if I feel like I’m a problem,” said the Spaniard, who watched in obvious frustration as City conceded three times in the last 15 minutes in a dramatic capitulation against Feyenoord in midweek. “I don’t want to stay here just because the contract is there.
“My chairman knows it. I said to him, ‘Give me the chance to try come back’, and especially when everybody comes back (from injury) and see what happens.
“After, if I’m not able to do it, we have to change because, of course, (the past) nine years are dead.
“More than ever I ask to my hierarchy, give me the chance.
“Will it be easy for me now? No. I have the feeling that still I have a job to do and I want to do it.”
City have been hampered by a raft of injuries this term, most pertinently to midfield talisman and Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.
The Euro 2024 winner is expected to miss the remainder of the season and his absence has been keenly felt over the past two months.
Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has also not started a match since September.
The pressure continues to build with champions City facing a crucial trip to title rivals and Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
Defeat would leave City trailing Arne Slot’s side by 11 points.
“I don’t enjoy it at all, I don’t like it,” said Guardiola of his side’s current situation. “I sleep not as good as I slept when I won every game.
“The sound, the smell, the perfume is not good enough right now.
“But I’m the same person who won the four Premier Leagues in a row. I was happier because I ate better, lived better, but I was not thinking differently from who I am.”
Guardiola is confident his side will not stop battling as they bid to get back on track.
He said: “The people say, ‘Yeah, it’s the end of that’. Maybe, but we are in November. We will see what happens until the end.
“What can you do? Cry for that? You don’t stay long – many, many years without fighting. That is what you try to look for, this is the best (way).
“Why should we not believe? Why should it not happen with us?”
