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Manchester City fans are right to be cautious about boasting their title credentials, but their manager might not be buying into that school of thought. Pep Guardiola has not hidden his disagreement with the bulk of fans and pundits who believe the EPL is the hardest league in the world. One of those people is Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel who never hid his beliefs.
"What he did with Barcelona was fantastic," Schmeichel, who completed his career with one season at City, told Omnisport.
"He was very lucky he had the players at Barcelona but he was clever in what he did."
"The Premier League is a completely different animal to any other in the world. It just goes on and on and on, you feel it never stops, even in March you have 12 games to go, you think will this ever stop?"
"Whereas Alex Ferguson's first priority was 'we have to be able to score goals' - for most coaches, that's the priority - with Pep it's possession, I want to have as much possession as possible," Schmeichel said.
"So the philosophy goes to 'I want to have so much possession that at some point we'll score a goal from that, the goals will come from possession' and that's his philosophy."
Another person with a similar conviction is former Chelsea coach Avram Grant
"I think he's one of the greatest coaches in history," Grant told Omnisport.
"He's one of the best, one of the top, no doubt about this. What he did in Barcelona, even the football that he played in Bayern Munich was amazing. But I think Pep didn't do his homework when he came to English football. English football is totally different."
"Even though there are a lot of foreigners, still there are things that are typical for English football. Because when they play good, they are playing excellent, excellent. But still, they are not hard to beat on the defensive side."
"He plays exactly like he played in Barcelona, but not with the same personalities and not in the same league."
Pep himself is not mute on the topic and came out after their away victory against the cherries early this season to give his verdict on the premier league.
“I know you like to hear: ‘It is the toughest one, congratulations,’” he said. “You are the most viewed."
"Of course the Premier League is tough, so tough. But I would not say going to the Bernabeu, Camp Nou, Bilbao, Sevilla is easy. Because in the last decade, all the Spanish teams arrive in the Champions League and Europa League. Winning the Europa League — like Sevilla did three times in a row."
"The Premier League will be tough when, this is going to happen with five teams in the Champions League, and they can achieve the last rounds. After we can say, ‘That is the toughest league’. We have to make that step.”
An average possession of 64.9% and 29 goals so far this season should make Pep’s doubters rethink their opinion. Also, taking into consideration how they patiently took out Chelsea, not to mention how they tore Stoke apart even after their apparent fight back. It is safe to say that Machester City the spine to dig deep when it gets tough. But the important question is can they keep the momentum going until the end of the season?
