Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola is enduring the worst statistical run of his managerial career after Manchester City lost their fourth straight game on Saturday.
Brighton came from behind to beat the English champions 2-1 in the Premier League to leave second-placed City five points behind leaders Liverpool.
City hadn’t lost four games in a row in all competitions since 2006 — two years before the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club and 10 years before Guardiola’s game-changing arrival on the blue side of Manchester.
As for Guardiola, widely regarded as the world’s best coach, he had never lost four straight matches anywhere in his illustrious time in management that began in 2007.
The closest he had come was in the 2014-15 season when, at Bayern Munich, his team lost in a penalty shootout in the German Cup followed by three straight defeats — two in the Bundesliga, when Bayern had already clinched the title, and once in the Champions League.
So, Guardiola was asked, is this the end of the era, after leading City to an unprecedented four straight top-flight league titles?