Guardiola singles out Man City’s ‘most important player’ this season | OneFootball

Man City manager Pep Guardiola highlighted Josko Gvardiol’s significance for Man City this season, claiming that “it would have been impossible to sustain” a push to finish in the top five without him.

The Spaniard highlighted Gvardiol’s reliability and availability as the key reasons behind his importance in a season which has seen City endure plenty of difficult moments.

Highlighting Gvardiol’s importance this season, Guardiola said: “I think Josko has been the most important player that we’ve had this season.

“Without Josko, it would be impossible to sustain (our season). He’s reliable to play every three days. He’s been top.

“When you’re reliable and available and fight and suffer and try again in the bad moments, that means a lot to me.”

The Croatian was not the only player that Guardiola singled out for praise with Jeremy Doku’s recent form also impressing the City boss.

Guardiola said: “The impact is really good. His work ethic and impact, how he can change the game. It went really good.“The players who want to improve and who love to play, their focus, their spirit, they are better. Every season you play and are positive, you are a better player. In the final third, the ability to change directions is unbelievable.”

Man City face Southampton this weekend as they look to boost their Champions League qualification hopes. Currently in third, their qualification for the competition is in their hands.

“It’s not been good, I know, but it could be worse, we didn’t give up”, Guardiola said. “We are here still fighting to qualify for the Champions League. We’re in the final of the FA Cup.

“We had a lot of injuries, we didn’t have the energy. We tried most of the time but were not able to do it.

“I did not find the way to let them feel comfortable in winning games but at the same time it’s happened. You can not win at all times in your career. Accept the reality and learn and improve.

“In a tough season, we were in a run of not good results. People say it can’t be worse, it can be.

“When you lose three, four games, you can lose six seven. Still we are there.”