Pep Guardiola is motivated by the fear of failure and is determined bring more success to Manchester City after their record-breaking title-winning season.
Last season, City became the first Premier League team to reach 100 points — but Guardiola said there was no risk of him losing focus on improving.
City kick off their season against Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday when Guardiola will be without many of his first team, who have only just returned following the World Cup.
“I’m ready. From my point of view, the players don’t have to be worried. I’m ready,” the coach told a news conference ahead of the Wembley curtain-raiser.
“The fear of losing games makes me starving and hungry again. To lose matches is not good for any manager, and all the managers will try to avoid that feeling.
“You feel guilty, you feel bad, your personal life is not good, the relationship with the players is not good.”
Guardiola said the Premier League remained his main aim, despite City’s owners making clear their desire to win the Champions League, as he looks to become the first manager since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2008 to lift back-to-back titles.
“The Premier League is the main target. The mentality right now is the Community Shield, but the Premier League shows how you are as a team,” he said.
“In the Champions League it’s more unpredictable. One bad moment, bad decisions, one bad half can break all the hard work of the season.
“For Manchester City the Champions League is a target, of course, but all the teams that play Champions League want to win it. I think we need more time to be a real contender for ourselves, for the referees, for the system, everything to fight for the Champions League.
“But Barcelona, for me the best team in the world at playing football, won their first in 1992. It’s not an easy competition. Every season being there is the most important.
“We are going to try with all our effort. But it’s the Premier League every day.”
Considered one of the best midfielders of his generation, Guardiola was a highly creative, hard-working, and elegant player, with good anticipation, tactical awareness, and an ability to read the game; throughout his career, he was deployed as a central or defensive midfielder in front of his team’s back-line
Although he was competent defensively and able to press opponents to break up play and win the ball, due to his slender build he usually functioned as a deep-lying playmaker, where he excelled courtesy of his technical ability and intelligent, efficient, precise passing game.
Despite his lack of notable pace or physical attributes, Guardiola was highly regarded throughout his career for his vision, close control, passing range, positional sense, and calm composure on the ball,which enabled him to retain possession and either set the tempo of his team’s play in midfield with intricate short exchanges, or switch the play or create chances with longer passes.
Guardiola was capable of being an offensive threat, due to his ability to make attacking runs or strike accurately from distance; he was also effective at creating chances or shooting on goal from set-pieces. Having served as captain of both Barcelona and the Spanish national side, he also stood out for his leadership throughout his career.
Guardiola’s unique playing style, which relied on creativity, technique and ball movement, rather than physicality and pace, inspired several future diminutive Spanish playmaking midfielders, such as Xavi,Andrés Iniesta, and Cesc Fàbregas.