Manchester City closed the gap at the top of the Premier League with a win over Brentford, but manager Pep Guardiola wasn’t in the best mood throughout the 90 minutes

With the visitors being humble Brentford, a Tunnel Club ticket for this Manchester City fixture probably sets you back only two or three hundred notes. Whether or not you got value for money depends on what you came to the stadium for.

If it was for exhilarating, fast-paced, muscular football, then you were distinctly short-changed. If it was to get a close-up of Pep Guardiola at his frenetic peak, then it was cash spent wisely.

Guardiola always looks like a manager on the brink; he always looks as though he might be on the brink of hysterical tears, such is his will to win. And it is not as though he has been unable to cope with the pressure, with the expectation that weighs so heavily on his brilliant teams.

You do not have Pep’s collection of trophies if you have a tendency to lose the plot. Behind the arm-waving, the theatrical crouching, the pointing, and the finger-wagging, there is clinical, tactical brilliance.

But as Arsenal get back into their impressive stride and Liverpool maintain a steady title gallop, the heat is on Guardiola. Make no mistake. And if you were in the Tunnel Club on Tuesday night, you could tell.

You could tell by the way Guardiola gave Oscar Bobb a thorough talking-to as the teams were emerging for the second half. You could tell by the way he pleaded with the crowd to calm down when frustration at City’s laborious build-ups began to boil over.

 

Pep Guardiola likes to talk to his Manchester City players throughout games ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

And most spectacularly, you could tell by the way he repeatedly volleyed the drinks bucket in angry celebration when Erling Haaland made the breakthrough just after the 70-minute mark.

 

Guardiola says there is only the most remote chance of his side repeating the treble, but that does not mean he is not desperate to do exactly that.

 

And that is why he puts such intense pressure on himself, as those who were in the posh seats for this match now know only too well.

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