“I’m not good enough. I can’t find solutions. I don’t want to stay if I’m part of the problem.”

Does this sound like someone who’s been called a genius? As well as the GOAT football manager?

Who won a Treble in his first season with Barcelona and all six trophies in his second? The first ever to do so.

And made more history last season when Manchester City became the first club in 136 years to win the English League four times in a row.

He was a man who didn’t make mistakes: if something went wrong, he was merely over-thinking.

But this man has now been reduced to childish pleas for reassurance; to sleepless nights and self-harming, and even thinking the unthinkable – of quitting after signing a new two-year contract.

This is what football can do – even to Pep Guardiola.

Last weekend he was not thinking enough when he gave his squad two days off after the catastrophic loss to Manchester United: he should have given them the whole week.

Without a match – they were already out of the Carabao Cup – it was the perfect opportunity to take a proper break.

If ever a squad and a coach were crying out for one, it’s Pep and his tired, crestfallen team right now.

And with owners in Abu Dhabi, it would not have been hard to arrange.

A few days of warm weather bonding – away from the gloom and the headlines – and a chat with the chairman could have been the perfect tonic.

Khaldoon Al Mubarak is Pep’s biggest fan – their families even holiday together. Pep overthought this as well.

Al Mubarak would have told him that he can buy who he wants in January.

City have just declared an annual turnover of £715 million – the highest in world football – and have no worries about Profit & Sustainability Rules.

And the 115 charges? Whatever the verdict, it’s likely to have no bearing on the current season.

City remain confident and if it goes against them, an appeal would take it into the summer before the final outcome is known.

Anyway, two days off in a rare free week is normal practise. Losing eight out of 11 matches is anything but normal.

And the draw against Feyenoord was worse than any defeat – until the United game.

This was the City of old, when they didn’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but from its larynx; the city that we thought had gone forever under zillions of barrels of Gulf oil.

Mubarak would also have told him that the season is not over; that other teams – including Liverpool – are dropping points and that top four is still well within the team’s grasp.

To win four titles in a row, six out of seven and then finish in the top four is no reason to call the Befrienders.

All the wounded players except Rodri are looking at returning soon – even Oscar Bobb.

And a big signing such as Bruno Guimares or Martin Zubimendi, who is now open to leaving, could spark a revival in the new year.

Also, they cannot continue to have such rotten luck.

If the errors against Feyenoord were enough for Pep to inflict scratches on his head, you wonder what mental anguish Matheus Nunes’ double-blunder sparked.

The Portuguese isn’t good enough and, like Kalvin Phillips before him, would have been shipped out long ago but for all the casualties.

Pep’s overthinking was having a squad too thin to cope with so many absentees.

Bobb had been City’s best player on the pre-season tour – then he broke his leg in training.

The 21-year-old Norwegian, of whom big things are expected, could be back next month.

As devastatingly cruel though the United and Feyenoord games were, all is not lost for City.

The aura of invincibility has gone, but it had a long way to fall.

Now they are just one of three or four top sides – no longer the outstanding one.

It’s crucial that Pep and the players remember this. They just need to relax – and they’ll beat most EPL teams with something to spare.

Solid recruitment in the next two transfer windows could see them back on their perch – assuming no point deductions.

There are rumours suggesting all is not well in the dressing room and that Erling Haaland is one who wants out.

So this is the time to remember who they are, what they’ve achieved and stick together.

Age is catching up with a few, notably Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker, but that is to be expected.

But by acting as if all this is the end of the world, Pep is risking losing far more.

If he were to quit now, City might suffer the same fate that befell United when both Alex Ferguson and CEO David Gill retired in the same month in 2013.

Football director Txiki Begiristain is leaving and City were desperate to keep Pep to avoid a similar scenario.

Hugo Viana is replacing Begiristain but replacing Pep would be an entirely different ball game.

In any walk of life, once you’ve been the undisputed king of the castle, it’s hard to accept being one of the boys.

But no one can win forever and this does not mean that City have become also-rans: it’s up to Pep to convince the players of this.

It may prove a greater challenge than any he’s encountered on the field but could set the seal on how he’s remembered.

United, even under Fergie, had fallow seasons between rich harvests, as they did under his predecessor, Matt Busby. Ditto Liverpool under their immortal Bill Shankly.

But those wise old heads didn’t panic, didn’t throw their toys out of the pram, regrouped and came back stronger.

Pep can do the same. And after all he’s achieved, he won’t be starting from scratch.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.