In the end, Pep Guardiola cannot be Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger. Or football today is too stressful. Or maybe because Pep has won too much... To send the message "no motivation to win the Premier League".
During his career leading Manchester United for more than 20 years, coach Ferguson never talked about "running out of motivation". He just didn't have enough energy to work so he stopped.
With coach Wenger, it's a different perspective, not winning too many titles with Arsenal, but the motivation is always maintained in building, developing playing style and bringing young players to the world.
For coach Guardiola, this year is the 8th year at Manchester City . That was also an exception when he only had a maximum of 4 seasons in the two teams he previously led, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
With Man City, the Spanish coach has everything. Winning nearly half the number of titles that Sir Alex had in 27 years at Man United, twice as many titles as Jurgen Klopp won in 9 years at Liverpool.
Referring to the time and also the number of titles of the coaches to see that maintaining motivation is really not a simple task.
In fact, even the way coach Guardiola talks about motivation can be understood in different ways.
“When we enter the sprint stage and are close to winning the championship, winning the title will be a motivation for us. But to say at this point, the motivation to win another Premier League championship is no longer there for me. That kind of motivation is gone for me now," Mr. Pep said.
In a straightforward way, the 53-year-old strategist has run out of motivation in the Premier League (but still in other fronts - like the Champions League, for example).
As for the deeper meaning, in the early stages of the season, Man City can take it easy, without pressure on the players, so that when the decisive stage comes, the championship is of course still the driving force.
It cannot be said and understood in a blatant way that "I have run out of motivation, the championship is ceded to you". So for opponents who are "excited" when they hear Pep Guardiola talk about motivation, be careful not to fall into the trap.
However, when coach Guardiola talked about motivation, he will also need to look further into his and the Premier League's future.
During his career, Pep has worked in Spain, Germany and England, but has not been to Italy or France. Are Serie A and Ligue 1 "fierce" enough to motivate him? Maybe yes, because he once chose to go to the Bundesliga - where Bayern created a one-sided game.
Italy's Serie A may be a more attractive place, with many more competitive teams than going to Ligue 1 with a prospect no different from the Bundesliga - if he goes to Paris St Germain. Choosing to go to another club in France is interesting.
Among the current Premier League coaches, Pep Guardiola is the only coach to have ever won the championship. So if he leaves in the near future, the rest may be motivated in the context that some big teams will not change coaches anytime soon.
Leaving to motivate yourself, leaving motivation for the tournament, is also a reasonable choice. But before going, the motivation is... to win one more time!?
