Pep Guardiola says he has asked the Manchester City hierarchy for a chance to turn the club’s form around, but will leave if he fails to do so.
Guardiola is enduring the worst run of form in his managerial career, with City losing five successive matches in all competitions before conceding a three-goal lead to draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League in midweek.
His cause has not been helped by a number of injuries to key players including Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who will miss the rest of the season.
Guardiola has won 18 trophies since moving to Etihad Stadium in 2016, including six Premier League titles in seven years and the Champions League.
But the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, who recently signed a new two-year contract, says that provides no guarantee he will stay in the job if results fail to improve.
“I don’t want to stay in the place if I feel like I’m a problem,” he said. “I don’t want to stay here just because the contract is there.
“My chairman knows it. I said to him, ‘Give me the chance to try to come back’, and especially when everybody comes back [from injury] and see what happens.
“After, if I’m not able to do it, we have to change because, of course, [the previous] nine years are dead.
“More than ever I ask to my hierarchy, give me the chance.
“Will it be easy for me now? No. I have the feeling that still I have a job to do and I want to do it.”
Premier League champions City are fourth in the table and face leaders Liverpool on Sunday knowing defeat will mean they slip 11 points behind the Merseysiders.
Guardiola is unhappy at the club’s position but is still confident the players can turn things around.
“I don’t enjoy it at all, I don’t like it,” he said. “I sleep not as good as I slept when I won every game. The sound, the smell, the perfume is not good enough right now.
“But I’m the same person who won four Premier Leagues in a row. I was happier because I ate better, lived better, but I was not thinking differently from who I am.
“The people say, ‘Yeah, it’s the end of that.’ Maybe, but we are in November. We will see what happens until the end.
“What can you do? Cry for that? You don’t stay long – many, many years without fighting. That is what you try to look for.
“Why should we not believe? Why should it not happen with us?”