Ander Herrera: ‘Pep Guardiola be under pressure at Manchester City’

Pellegrini’s defence under pressure from the press was as impressive as England goalkeeper Joe Hart’s had been in preserving City’s lead at the Stadium of Light.

“He’s always going to get chances, so I had to be aware that as well as the centre-halves played, he was always going to get a chance and I had to make sure I stepped up”. “Why don’t you write about the wonderful words I say to my players before games”.

“It’s nice, I love to play against the best teams and I like to play against the best coaches, so it is wonderful for the Premier League”.

The Chilean’s record eclipses that of Alex Ferguson over his first 100 games in the English top tier and is better than both predecessor Roberto Mancini and Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez. In winning the double in the 2013-14 season, City scored 156 goals in all competitions as Pellegrini preached an attacking, entertaining approach in keeping with the vision of director of football Txiki Begiristain and at odds with Mancini’s often unadventurous style. “This is a team who are fighting relegation”, Pellegrini said of Sunderland.

City confirmed Guardiola’s appointment on a three-year contract on Monday, ending months of speculation over where his next destination would be, with Chelsea and Manchester United also linked with him. Only this season has Pellegrini started to regularly play one up front.

But The Sun adds that if City have a pretty ambitious Plan B, and says that if they fail in their attempt to lure Lewandowski to the Etihad, then they will “intensify their pursuit” of Lionel Messi. I never do it. So for me it is very important now to focus on our next game, which is Leicester at home, who is the leader, and we will try and be top of the table and to try and finish the season successful.

“It is a very attractive league for the younger managers”.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has dismissed suggestions that Pep Guardiola was manoeuvred into the club behind his back.

But while he believes City have ensured they will be playing great football, the ex-Arsenal defender still thinks Guardiola has a tough ask to win the Champions League. As a player, you play for the fans, the chairman, the manager and yourself. His man-management has been something that I personally have really enjoyed.