Pep Guardiola acknowledges that his individual performance this season has been “very disappointing.”

Guardiola: We do not deserve a bonus for Club World Cup, not even a watch

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has expressed his disappointment with the team’s performance this season, stating he should have done “much better.” The Catalan tactician described his own efforts as “really poor,” a stark contrast to the success he has enjoyed in previous campaigns.

After clinching four consecutive Premier League titles, City currently find themselves in fifth place, just a point shy of the UEFA Champions League spots and a staggering 22 points behind league leaders Liverpool. Guardiola, who is often hailed as one of the finest managers of his generation, has secured six Premier League titles since taking the helm at City over eight years ago, and has never finished lower than third with any club throughout his managerial career.

When reflecting on his performance this season, the 54-year-old said, “This season? Really poor. The opponents never gave us a red carpet to win the titles that we won in the past. My duty was to overcome the situation much better than I have done this season.”

Guardiola attributed the team’s struggles to “a few details,” adding, “Hopefully this will not happen next season. This is important.” City are poised to reach their seventh consecutive FA Cup semi-final with a victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday.

However, Guardiola made it clear that even if they were to win the FA Cup and secure a Champions League spot, it would not compensate for the disappointing Premier League campaign. “Of course it would be nice to arrive in the final of the FA Cup and win it, and qualify for the Champions League,” he acknowledged. “That would be a big success but the season has been poor and it’s not going to change.”

“Our standards and many things were not good, this is the reality. That’s not going to change for the fact we win one title or qualify for the Champions League. We’ll be happy, of course. We want to do it but the season has not been good.”

Iraola: ‘FA Cup more important than Europe’

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has voiced his belief that FA Cup success outweighs the prospect of European football ahead of their clash with City. The winners of the FA Cup are guaranteed a spot in the UEFA Europa League group stages for the following season.

Iraola stated, “The FA Cup is, for me, much more important than playing in Europe. It’s a title. Sometimes they talk about the cup competitions as a way to get into Europe. I don’t care about Europe. We are playing in a final, we are fighting for a title. For me, it’s much more important.”

As The Cherries prepare to face last season’s finalists and seven-time winners City, Iraola added, “I think we can win it. Probably we are not the favourites, especially with the opposition we have in the quarter-finals but I think we have shown we can win it. We are three games away from winning it. With a good day from our players, we can beat all the teams. I think we have a chance, probably not as big as City or Aston Villa, but I think we have our chance.”