'The Motivation to Win Premier League is Not There Now, But...': Pep Guardiola Expounds on Team Mentality Ahead of Season Opener vs Chelsea

What happens when winning becomes a habit? Well, sometimes habits become repetitive and boring. And so it has temporarily at the moment for 4-time defending champions Manchester City, says Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola has now won 17 major honours as City boss – 12 more than the Club’s next most successful manager Joe Mercer.

The Spaniard also became the first City boss to win the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. And they lie ready yet again, to take on their defense of the PL title with an encounter against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tonight.

Guardiola has established an era of utter dominance in the Premier League. Six titles in seven years and a record-breaking four in succession have changed the 53-year-old Spaniard’s perspective. And by clinching the last four PL titles in a row, City has made it a habit at this point of time.

It has become so expectedly repeated that the Man City boss himself talked about how there’s a lack of motivation right now at the start of the season to win the Premier League.

“When we arrive in the last month (of the season), close to winning another Premier League, that will be the motivation.

“But now, the motivation to win another Premier League is not there. For me it’s not there.

“It will be in the last month, but now it’s ‘can we beat Chelsea’? Last season we could not beat them.”

Rather, what the Spaniard harped on was the importance for his club to improve and when the race gets tough, then they start shifting their focus towards claiming the title again.

“So when you have conquered the Premier League for the last (four) years, everyone wants to beat us.

“In every stadium, in the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Premier League especially. The Champions League of course is a little bit different.

“So we look at ourselves and say ‘what can we do better? What can we do better as a team’? Always you can improve. Always.

“You have to have the desire to be individually better. I want to be a better manager, the players want to be better individually.”