Arsenal vs Manchester City: Pep Guardiola Setting His Own Ceiling

Arsenal has a truly unique case with Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola is actually very wise to accept that he will never match that.

I wrote earlier today that the Master of building excellence was facing the apprentice of building excellence. Arsenal, under the tutelage of Arsene Wenger, has become the model of consistency. Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has been spoon fed success.

Related: Arsenal’s 30 Greatest Players Ever

I’m not taking anything away from the Pepster, but when you walk into Bayern Munich and Barcelona, you have one task – don’t screw things up. He accomplished that.

Hurrah.

Now that he is at Manchester City he has this brand new, expansive toy that is going to be a hell of a lot more work than taking out three, four competitors in La Liga and the Bundesliga. Here in the Prem, he has to take out 19 other teams that all want blood.

He’s showing signs of figuring it out as well as signs of struggle. Getting dismantled by a sputtering Leicester City 4-2 was one sign of struggle.

It’s not going to be easy for Pep, but he has shown that he wants to build something here at City and not just treat it like he did his previous two endeavors, where he dropped in, continued their success and bounced.

However, he has taken time to note that he will never be Arsene Wenger.

Smart move, because, as Pep put it, nothing like Wenger or Fergie will ever happen again. To think about what they did, it seems almost unrealistic. Through decades and hundreds of different players, managers like Le Prof and Fergie maintained success and relevance while other teams came and went.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 observations from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park

Look at teams like Leeds United, who fell off the face of the earth. Even Liverpool sputtered. But Arsenal and United, they always remained.

Pep is already saying he won’t be anything like that. He wants to go new places and see new things.

Essentially what he has done is set his own ceiling. He won’t build long term success and he won’t sustain a legacy. He is simply going to go where the trophies seem within grasp, leave an imprint and move on.

To me, that’s selling himself short. The Prem may be difficult, but Pep could make City a sustainable powerhouse if he strives to do what others have done. He has the pedigree to earn that chance, surely he doesn’t want to just win a bit and move on.

Next: Wenger's 10 Worst Signings Ever

But then again, he said it.