Graeme Souness believes Manchester City have a certain figure who is not as brilliant as the masses think he is.

Such a claim does not seem to correlate with a single figure at Manchester City.

A majority of the figures at the club have proven time and time again that when all eyes are on them to deliver, they meet massive expectations.

Whether it be in the Premier League over the years, in the Champions League last season or in other cup competitions.

As a result, they are rightly hailed by the fans and pundits alike.

Pep Guardiola’s City team in particular have left no questions to be answered about their quality and mental fortitude.

Souness says one man at Man City isn’t as good as people think

At this point, whichever trophies the Sky Blues go on to win just add to their status as a club that has its sights set on winning at all times, like other top teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

The same goes for the big names at the club like Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Kyle Walker and John Stones to name a few.

The likes of Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta are also rightly regarded as legendary players due to how many times they delivered when the pressure was on.

Can the same be said about players from other clubs?

In the case of some teams, the praise is deserved but others still have plenty to achieve to be hailed in such terms.

However, Souness does not seem to agree.

As Graeme Souness claimed on the Three Up Front podcast the credit Pep Guardiola gets as a genius manager is unwarranted

“Pep Guardiola has managed three clubs and in all of those, he has had the best group of players in whatever league he’s been in.”

“He took over from Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, where he had Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and many others. He went to Bayern Munich after they had just won the quadruple.”

“Then he came to Manchester City, where he took over a side that both Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini had won the Premier League with. He took over an exceptional group of players in every case.”

Graeme Souness continue to debunk what he believes is a myth about Pep Guardiola and his brilliance.

“City are the richest team in England, and they only needed the slightest bit of tweaking when he took over. He obviously manages players very well, but there is no genius there. It is just about having the best players.”

“If you have the best manager in the world with an average group of players, then you won’t win anything.”

Souness added, “If you have an average manager with great players, then you have a chance at being successful. I’ve been in dressing rooms where everything had been set in stone for the squad by the players that came before us, so the manager barely had to speak to us.

Graeme Souness recalled his experiences as part of great Liverpool teams, saying: “I’m not exaggerating when I say team talks at Liverpool were sometimes as simple as, ‘Today you’re playing a team in the bottom three, we’re top of the league. If you don’t match them for effort they might beat us, but if you do match them for effort, then we’ll win’.

“But for that to work, you’ve got to have top players.”

Pep Guardiola has not had it as easy as Graeme Souness thinks

In our view, Graeme Souness is trying to pinpoint how easy Pep Guardiola has had life as a manager, which is far from the truth.

When Guardiola was appointed by Barcelona, while they had several top players, they were far from the team they became under him.

The Catalan giants finished 18 points behind Real Madrid and 10 points behind Villareal in La Liga during the season before he was appointed.

The £378,846-a-week man’s fresh tactical ideas and the way he elevated players like Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry as well as youngsters like Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique played key roles in them winning the sextuple in his debut season.

Winning three out of four La Liga titles and two Champions League trophies at Barcelona in four seasons, Guardiola was viewed as a viable candidate to manage the big clubs.

At elite clubs like Bayern Munich and Manchester City, it is natural that they will have some world-class players.

Taking over from a treble-winning manager like Jupp Heynckes was never going to be a simple task for Pep Guardiola.

Even so, Guardiola won three league titles on the bounce but failed to win a notoriously difficult competition like the Champions League.

Regardless, the Spaniard did a fantastic job.

At City, when Manuel Pellegrini left the club, they had scraped into the top four, as they finished above Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United on goal difference.

Cut to the present and Guardiola is winning trophies at a nigh-on unprecedented rate in football.

Pep Guardiola has earned the right to manage the top clubs and a manager of his ilk has always justified his appeal by winning major silverware.

The ability to motivate some of the best players in the world season after season and succeeding wherever he has gone cannot be underestimated.

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