Pep Guardiola threatens to park the bus against Fulham as Man City consider big gamble

Pep Guardiola has made it crystal clear that results trump philosophy, admitting he's ready to ditch his usual style if it means clinching the crucial point Manchester City need for Champions League qualification. With City teetering in third place and a superior goal difference to Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa, and Nottingham Forest, a loss at Fulham could see them leapfrogged by their rivals.

In the aftermath of Ruben Amorim standing firm in his tactics only to see his team falter in the Europa League final, raising further questions about his tenure at Manchester United, Guardiola knows that his ultimate appraisal hinges on whether his squad can cross the finish line victoriously.

Guardiola remarked: "The manager is good if you win - if you don't then his decisions are wrong. Any plan when you win, that's really, really, really good. We are judged for our results, not for the way we want to approach the game.

"I thought after many, many years it might not be like that. But a manager is really, really good if he wins...if he doesn't then he has problems.

"If we have to play in a certain way to take a point then I will do it. If that means changing the principles, to sit back and wait for the transition, and play another way to take the point, then I will do it. I promise you I will do it.

"If I think that's the best way to take a point or the three then I will do it. We have to respect whatever we have to do over the 90 minutes or the 95 minutes.

"For me, my idea is to try to play to win the game. But if we are playing bad or the opponents are playing better than us then will I change.

"You have to play to score and win games but if we have to defend for 90 minutes to get the result that is what we will do."

He reflected on City's history, noting that they last missed out on a Champions League spot in 2010 - with the team becoming European champions for the first time two years later.

Coming off a recent defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final, Guardiola has overseen the team's first trophy drought since 2017, his first year in charge at the Etihad.

Acknowledging the importance yet non-fatal impact of potential setbacks, Guardiola stated: "After the end of the season, we will decide what we have done with the process, what we can do more carefully, what happened, what we should have anticipated with our decisions and what we have to do for the best future.

"It will be easier to do that if we are in the Champions League.

"If we don't qualify, we will survive. We will move forward and we will take the decisions we have to take. But the club, I am pretty sure, is thinking for the best.

"I know the season has not been good - but always it can be worse, right? So we must just focus on what we have to do in the game.

"For the big teams it is always like that, how you stand up every time when the situation is not perfect. That is what we are going to have to do."