Watch: Pep Guardiola’s extraordinary outburst at Manchester City’s ‘happy flowers’

An exasperated Pep Guardiola tore into his Manchester City players and the club’s fans and claimed Arsenal will “destroy” his “happy flowers” team in the title race if they do not get their act together.

In what veered between an extraordinary rant and a desperate rallying call, the City manager urged his side to rediscover the “fire” that turned them into serial winners and accused them and supporters of falling into a comfort zone.

City came from 2-0 down against Tottenham to win 4-2 courtesy of an extraordinary second half comeback at the Etihad Stadium and move to within five points of leaders Arsenal.

The Premier League champions can reduce that gap to two points by beating Wolves on Sunday before Arsenal host Manchester United but Guardiola warned his players that they can forget about a fifth title in six seasons if there is not a drastic change in attitude.

“I want a reaction for all the club, the whole organisation – not just the players, the staff and everyone,” he said. “We’re a happy flowers team. Happy flowers, ah it’s good. No, I don’t want to be a happy flower. I want to beat Arsenal. But if we play in that way Arsenal will destroy us.

Arsenal will beat us. I want to see my team. We are far away from the team we had in previous seasons.

“I’m incredibly happy [to beat Spurs] but if we don’t change we are not going to win anything. I have to see my team. The love in our life is to have passion for something – our fans are comfortable, we are comfortable.”

There were boos from the City supporters at half-time against Tottenham but Guardiola wants to see the fanbase get fully behind the team in this difficult moment.

“The fans – they come here and we have to give them,” he said. “They expect ‘Oh, we’re Manchester City, we have to do it’. No, we don’t have it right now.

“Our fans have to push us, demand more, have to shout: ‘Come on guys, I know how good you are, you have to show us’. ‘Ah well, we come, score a goal. No. It cannot be 0-2 down to react’. Nine times out of 10 you don’t come back. Today we were lucky. We are not able to come back every time.

“I want my fans back. My fans in here. Not my away fans, my away fans are the best. My fans here [need] to support every corner, every action.”

Guardiola says he sees a fight and fire in Arsenal that is lacking in his own team and suggested that so much success had made his players too comfortable.

“We have the problem that we have four Premier Leagues in five years and Arsenal have two decades without the Premier League, except Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko [the former City players], and every ball and every action and every corner and every duel it’s there. We miss it. We don’t have it.

“We always play good. But there is something that’s not about that. We give the goals [away]. Today it was Edi [Ederson] or Rodri. The next day it will be a fight back and then a central defender and so on. Right now we don’t have it.

“The tendency of the human being when you’ve won a lot is ‘Ah, I should do this, I should do that’. No you have to work. You have to put fire there – in every ball, in every action, in every situation. It’s ‘Come on, let’s go’. We have been in this position a few times – behind Liverpool – then let’s go. And now … we were lucky today. I didn’t expect to come back at half-time against Tottenham. If we want to do something we have to come back.”

Guardiola singled out Erling Haaland and Nathan Aké for criticism but insisted that everyone was culpable.

“People say we were not a success because we didn’t win the Champions League. Bull----. We won a lot,” he said.

“But we have to look at ourselves. I said to Erling – ‘Erling, runners, you cannot drop, runners’. One before half time. One. The quality is there. That’s why we bought it. I want to help you. I want you to go there. One [run]. I want more. ‘I want to score 50 goals’. I want more.

“It’s not about complaining. Nathan – against [Mohamed] Salah in the Carabao Cup [against Liverpool] in the 10 duels, he won nine. But with Nathan right now we can’t play good.

“There is something in the clouds which you cannot express and we don’t have it. I see the Arsenal games and they do everything good – that’s why they’re in front. It’s everyone. When we realise it we come back.”