MANCHESTER, England -- It has become something of a weekly ordeal for Pep Guardiola to face the media and probing questions over his methods and results, although the Manchester City manager is dealing with his press conference interrogators more convincingly than goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is handling the challenge of repelling Premier League forwards.
While Bravo, the error-prone goalkeeper who has become the topic of many of the questions faced by Guardiola, continues to seem out of his depth in City's goal, the manager, at least, meets his task head on.
He does not duck a question, even if some of his responses meander off topic, but one thing is certain from Guardiola's 32-minute press conference ahead of Saturday's encounter with second-place Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium: The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach will not change his ways.
His challenge, it seems, is to lower expectations and remove the aura of invincibility which, he suggests, has been unfairly bestowed upon him as a result of his achievements in Spain and Germany.
"Maybe the expectations about my coming here were excessive," Guardiola said. "Now you realise your commentary was so exaggerated. Maybe our 10 games in a row, winning games; maybe the people expect how good we were, but the reality is that we were going to build up and I am working on that.
"Expectations are what they are because of my past, but I am in Manchester now," he continued. "And I am happy in Manchester."
Unfortunately for Guardiola, however, a man with such a stellar CV cannot decide when he is to be described as great and when he should be given time to prove it. City hired the 46-year-old because he has been a serial winner, but also because he introduced a style of play at Barcelona that has proved devastatingly successful for the past decade.
Guardiola's suggestion that the hype over his arrival was "excessive" may be correct, but it is debatable as to whether his modesty is genuine or merely a deflection tactic designed to tell his inquisitors that they do not know as much as he does and that he will prevail in the end.
He has certainly never endured a season like this one, with his team in fifth position and Guardiola insisting on Friday: "We have already said goodbye to the title; it doesn't matter what happens tomorrow."
So is it Guardiola's fault that City are under-achieving or is it down to his players? He adopts the approach of shielding his squad by pointing inwardly.
"They are good players," he said. "I have respect for the guys, so why would I say the guys are not good? I don't understand the lack of respect for the professionals when they are amazing players and people say they are not good enough for me. Maybe I am not good enough for them.
When referring to the under-fire Bravo specifically, Guardiola again put the emphasis upon himself.
"They are Manchester City players, top players, they have a lot of quality," he said. "I try to be gentle with my players, I feel I can help [Bravo] and that is the reason why I am here. Most of the players are not comfortable with me, especially when they don't play, but always I try to find a way to get [Bravo] better and to try to find a solution to the situation."
Bravo, who was signed as a replacement for England international Joe Hart, has the unenviable distinction of posting the worst shots-to-saves ratio in the Premier League. His manager, though, refuses to expose the former Barcelona 'keeper, instead pointing to the lack of goals at the other end as one reason to support his struggling No. 1.
"The position is not about the goalkeeper," Guardiola said. "It would be easy for me if it were about that. We just need to play better and score the chances we had and concede fewer when the opponents arrive.
Guardiola is right to acknowledge that he must find solutions to situations beyond his goalkeeper. John Stones is regressing at centre-half, having started so promisingly following his £47 million summer arrival from Everton. Meanwhile, City's full-backs are, collectively and repeatedly, failing to live up to expectations and Sergio Aguero faces Spurs still waiting for his first goal against a top-seven team this season.
City's problems and battle for consistency of form may yet see the club miss out on Champions League qualification; Guardiola insists it is all down to him.
"Yeah, I take all the responsibility as a manager," he said. "You have to accept what happens right now about my job, of course, I'm willing to accept that."
How much Guardiola accepts and how much he believes it is down to the hand he has been dealt, though, remains to be seen. But this is his team, his tactics, his goalkeeper and, even if expectations have been exaggerated, it is unlikely that he believes City are living up to his.