Pep Guardiola claims it is inevitable standards will drop at Manchester City following last season’s treble success.
The City boss accepts it is unlikely his team will be able to match the intensity that saw them pick up the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies last term as a new campaign begins.
The Spaniard wants to make sure City pace their challenge for further silverware and is not even thinking about an end goal yet.
“We are going to drop that’s for sure,” said Guardiola, whose side begin their quest for a sixth domestic title in seven years at Burnley on Friday.
“It’s inevitable a little bit. We’ll try to avoid it as much as possible. Now it’s (about) not dropping too much – staying there, staying there, (being) close to our rivals.
“Then try to, in the last four, five, or six months, try to do what we have done every season. I don’t want to do it now. That is my feeling.
“Now, (it would be a) big mistake thinking about trophies and titles – big mistake.”
Guardiola also does not want to set any targets for Erling Haaland in his second season at the club.
The prolific Norwegian enjoyed an outstanding first year, firing 52 goals in just 53 appearances.
Guardiola said: “I will advise him, don’t put much pressure on the goals. I said to Erling, come back at your best, physically and mentally. If you score, fine. If you don’t score, fine.
“Try to improve in your details, in your quality and skills, and the team will help you as much as possible to score goals. I don’t want (to ask of) Erling to score 50 or 60.
“Try to be happy like he was last season and relax. Afterwards, the goals will come naturally, don’t force it.”
Concerns have been expressed this week about the potential impact on players of the edict for referees to be stricter when adding on added time.
Guardiola himself felt the amount added in the Community Shield against Arsenal last weekend was excessive.
He said: “Why eight minutes, not 12 or four? I don’t know exactly what happened. There was one goal and four or five substitutions but no injuries.
“If you want to control it, do it like basketball – stop the clock.
“If they are going to play the 10 minutes (extra) we are going to do it but, at the end we are going to play 41 games not 38 this season.”
The continuing expansion of the football calendar, along with pre-season tours, is also further limiting players’ breaks.
Guardiola said: “Many players asked me, ‘Give me more days off Pep’. I said I can’t.
“It’s a problem. It’s getting worse – more games, more games and more than that. Players need to go to the theatre, cinema, park, the gardens, to do other things that aren’t to do with football.”
Guardiola insists, however, that when it comes to his side’s additional showpiece fixtures this season – next week’s European Super Cup and the Club World Cup in December – he is honoured to be involved.
“I love it,” he said. “I love to play the Super Cup. This club never won the Super Cup and of course to play the Club World Cup you have to win the Champions League. This opportunity is a pleasure.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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