Pep Guardiola's Message to Manchester City: Win Big and Eliminate Doubt

Pep Guardiola has long since stopped waiting for VAR to save him. Or to hurt him. In his mind, the only real protection from controversy is the scoreboard.

Win big. Leave no doubt. Take the officials out of the story.

That is the message he is drilling into his Manchester City players again this week, as the Premier League title race tightens and VAR rage flares up elsewhere.

The latest flashpoint came at the London Stadium, where relegation-threatened West Ham saw a stoppage-time equaliser against title-chasing Arsenal wiped out after a long VAR check. One decision, one delay, and the table shuddered at both ends.

Guardiola watched it all with the hard-earned cynicism of a manager who feels he has already paid a heavy price in the biggest games of all.

“We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR,” he said, still bristling at the memory of 2024 and 2025. “When this happens it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR.”

He has not forgotten Wembley. City’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United two years ago still grates. On that day, Guardiola believed his side should have had two penalties after challenges on Erling Haaland by Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo. Two moments in the box, two appeals, nothing given. United lifted the cup. City were left pointing at incidents, not medals.

Last season brought more of the same pain. A shock defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final, more fury over the big calls. Dean Henderson starred for Palace, saving a penalty and anchoring a famous win, but the game might have taken a different turn had he been sent off for handling outside his area. Again, City felt the margins tilt against them. Again, they were told to accept it and move on.

Guardiola has, in his own way. He has simply removed any lingering faith that VAR will bring justice.

“I never trust anything since I arrived a long time ago,” he said. “Always I learned you have to do it better, do it better, be in a position to do it better because you blame yourself with what you have to do, because (VAR) is a flip of a coin.”

A flip of a coin. That is how one of the game’s great control freaks now views the technology designed to bring order. For Guardiola, the only answer is to overwhelm the chaos with performance.

So his gaze is fixed on Wednesday night, on Crystal Palace again, this time at the Etihad. No cup final, but a league game that could shape a title race. City know what is at stake: beat Palace and Arsenal’s lead at the top shrinks to two points. Drop anything and the gap starts to look like daylight.

There will be talk of revenge after last year’s showpiece. Guardiola is not interested. He does not want his players walking out thinking about Henderson’s handball or missed penalties from months gone by. He wants them thinking about intensity, control, chances created, chances taken.

“You have to do better and better for yourself, and that is focusing on Crystal Palace for us,” he said. “Of course it is not in our hands in the Premier League. Always I say to the players, ‘Do it, do it, do it better’.”

The message is relentless. So is the warning.

“I always learned that when you lose the focus, you are in a dangerous situation,” he added. “The only thing we can do is do it better, that is only in your control.”

The anger over those FA Cup finals still flickers. The distrust of VAR is total. But Guardiola is not building his season around slow-motion replays and drawn-off lines.

He is betting, as he always has, that if City are ruthless enough, precise enough, dominant enough, no referee and no monitor can touch them.