Pep Guardiola lives by the notion that “leagues are won in the last eight days and lost in the first eight.”
That phrase, cited in Marti Perarnau’s book “Herr Pep” would suggest that the Blues have already tossed away the Premier League title, especially given Liverpool’s lightning start to the season.
Defeats by Norwich and Wolves mean that Guardiola has suffered the worst start to a season in his managerial career.
His team is now eight points behind Liverpool. He has never been that far behind at this stage of a campaign, with City, Bayern Munich or Barcelona.
In fact, only three times before – in 11 seasons as a manager - has he not been top at this point, all of them when he was in charge at the Nou Camp.
And on only one of those occasions did Barca fail to win the league, when they were two points behind early pace-setters Levante after eight games in 2011-12, and eventually lost out to Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid.
He was also one point behind Valencia in 2008 and one behind Real Madrid in 2010 – and won the league both times.
Remarkably, since losing the league in 2012, Guardiola has not been in charge of a team that was not leading after eight games, until now.
His mantra that league titles are lost in the first eight games comes from the idea that teams are still reaching their peak in the early stages and that points lost at that stage are harder to recoup one the fixture list starts to intensify.
Not that Guardiola or his team will be giving up. In 2011-12, his Barcelona team trimmed back an eight-point deficit until they lost at home to eventual winners Real with four games left.
City’s task now, as it was last season, is to keep Liverpool within reach until the two sides clash at Anfield on November 10.
