Luis Enrique tells Guardiola critics: 'He's going to win'
By Richard Martin
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Pep Guardiola will bounce back from his long winless run with Manchester City and end up winning trophies in England while playing impressive football, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said on Friday.
Former Barca and Bayern Munich coach Guardiola is without a win in six games in all competitions, culminating in Wednesday's 1-0 League Cup loss to Manchester United, his worst run of results since entering management in 2008.
"To the critics of Guardiola I will say this: don't worry, he's going to win trophies this season," Luis Enrique, a friend and former Barca team mate of Guardiola, told a news conference ahead of Saturday's game with Granada in La Liga.
"Critics will always appear because people don't like it when the same people win all the time, but I'm sure Pep is going to win, and he's going to win while playing the same spectacular football we saw at the start of the season.
"If you have to have a philosophy and an idea you have to die by it."
Luis Enrique and Guardiola were both part of the Spain team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and the two midfielders later shared the dressing room at Barca between 1996 and 2001.
Guardiola won a record 14 trophies in four years in charge at Barca and guided Bayern to three successive Bundesliga titles before succeeding Manuel Pellegrini as City manager last summer.
A perfect start of 10 wins in 10 games in all competitions with City was interrupted by a 3-3 draw with Celtic in the Champions League, followed by defeat to Tottenham and a draw at home to Everton.
City's last win in any competition was a 3-1 success at struggling Swansea City on Sept. 24.
The former Barca coach endured a harrowing homecoming at the Nou Camp earlier this month, seeing his side make a litany of errors to lose 4-0 to the La Liga champions.
City travel to West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Saturday and host Barcelona next Tuesday in Champions League Group C.
(Editing by Rex Gowar)