Klopp: Poor Squad, One Of Guardiola’s Problems

Jurgen Klopp has defended Pep Guardiola and says the former Barcelona and Bayern coach is having to work with a weak squad and a competitive league.

Pep Guardiola only has the FA Cup in his sights, as his Manchester City crashed out of the UCL in the last 16 stage.

And Klopp believes a lack of a strong squad at Guardiola’s disposal is one of the problems the decorated manager is facing.

“We really have to compare the squads,” Klopp said, via The Independent.

“A team without [Lionel] Messi or with Messi? Come on. A team with [Andres] Iniesta or without Iniesta? A team with Xavi at his best or without? That’s the difference.

“You can’t compare one with the other. You can see what he wants. That is probably the most important thing if you judge a manager.”

Klopp also believes a more competitive competition has made it trickier for Guardiola, who won three consecutive league titles at both Barca and Bayern.

“Could he have won a few games more? Yes. Thank God they didn’t so obviously we are still around them,” the German said.

“It’s the same situation we had. We played a few outstanding games, but we obviously get judged by the games where we are not very good.

“We work really hard on it all week to bring this on the pitch but I’m sure he does the same. In England it’s the difficulty of this league and the quality of the players around.

“In Spain there’s always Madrid, and I don’t know, Valencia had a good year, Sevilla, Atletico of course, all that stuff. But the rest are not as good or not good enough to challenge Barcelona.”