Pep Guardiola is back to his sh*thouse best – & Arsenal should be very worried | OneFootball

This time 12 months ago, Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Sean Dyche’s Everton to extend their miserable winter funk.

Pep Guardiola‘s champions were languishing in seventh, 14 points behind leaders Liverpool. The Etihad atmosphere was flatter than a Dutch mountain.

Guardiola himself looked worn out, wounded after separating from his wife and living in a Deansgate bachelor pad. The gig looked up.

Fast forward to Saturday and the City boss is back to his unintentionally hilarious best with a revitalised squad right in the title mix.

After a hard-fought 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest, thanks to goals from summer signings Tijani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, Guardiola strolled over to the away fans to seek their adulation.

One problem – a pesky cameraman lingered in the way, the antibody against the love gushing between the City Ground pitch and the stands.

Staring down the camera, and quite honestly giving us the shivers, Guardiola exaggeratedly ushered the cameraman towards the River Trent.

The trembling operator obliged, possibly with soiled trousers, and football’s latest GIF was born.

It’s not the first time Guardiola has tangled with a cameraman this season, lifting the headphone of one to speak in his ear after losing at Newcastle in November.

He apologised and said he felt embarrassed after that incident, but the fascination clearly lives on. Perhaps having conquered football, Pep is simply broadening his horizons?

Guardiola believes City have rediscovered their mojo after digging out a crucial victory.

It was not a classic performance at the City Ground, but City have won 24 out of the past 27 points available.

“It’s more important how you suffer, how you defend, accept you’re not playing good and can be better and be in the game, otherwise there is no chance,” Guardiola said afterwards.

“That game last season was lost, 10 for 10.

“For a long time the team has wanted to do it and it’s the last game of the first leg of the season, so it’s good to finish with an important three points.

“They are three points, but a massive three points mainly for the quality of the opposition. Sean Dyche has created a proper team – this team, a few months ago, were fighting for the Champions League.

“It’s a top side. I know the momentum is not good, but it does not change the quality of the side.”

Guardiola also spoke about his relationship with Cherki, the kind of individual talent that the Catalan has typically eschewed in past teams.

“There are moments I shout at him and there are moments I want to kiss him, so I have that ambivalent feeling with him,” he said.

“I want to allow him to express his incredible talent. We have to play better from the back so he can get more balls from that position.

“The second half was a little bit better.”

We’re seeing the City boss talking up the opposition like they’re 1970 Brazil, dangle both a carrot and a stick in front of his own player while making performative gestures to the camera.

Arsenal should be very afraid now that the City boss has relaxed back into his idiosyncratic groove. We all know how this usually ends.