"?Outgoing Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted the club's decision to announce Pep Guardiola as his successor in February had a negative impact on his side's season, according to "?Goal.
Pellegrini sealed a Champions League place for City ahead of Guardiola's appointment by earning a 1-1 draw at Swansea on Saturday, but the Chilean said after the game that he felt the campaign could have been even better - but for the decision to announce the Bayern boss as the next man to take charge.
He said: "In the Premier League, that's so important, we finished maybe not where we wanted.
"In the whole year we were competing for a spot in the Champions League so I think we deserved a spot in Champions League. Over year we were near top of the table.
"In February a lot of things happened that I don't want to continue analysing. We lost two games at home against Leicester and Tottenham, at the same moment that everyone announced what would happen next year.
"I think the atmosphere was not the best to fight for the title."
"We deserved a spot in Champions League" - Manuel Pellegrini reflects on Man City's season: https://t.co/wS7BmqvGXX pic.twitter.com/pUyxAqFKRy
Pellegrini, however, did reflect on the successes of his side in other competitions, looking to their progress in the Champions League and to their win of the League Cup.
He added: "If you analyse season we won Capital One Cup, we reached for the first time the semi-final of Champions League. Maybe we didn't play well, but only difference with Real Madrid [in the semi-final] was an own goal in our goal.
"Before then, unfortunately, we couldn't continue in the FA Cup. We had to prioritise one competition because we had too many injuries in that moment that we couldn't recover completely.
"If you add all those things I think it's a good season; not a very, very good season, but a good one."
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