Salah set to play against City in New York clash
MO Salah and Sadio Mane are both set to play for Liverpool when they take on Manchester City in New York tonight.
Both men returned to training last week after representing Egypt and Senegal respectively during the World Cup in Russia.
Salah proved to be a thorn in City’s side last season, scoring three times in four appearances against the Blues, while Mane scored twice in four games against Pep Guardiola’s team.
City lost their first pre-season game against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago on Saturday as a first-half Mario Gotze penalty earned the Bundesliga side a 1-0 win.
Guardiola remained positive in the wake of the defeat, praising the performances of a number of his young players.
“Luke Bolton is a winger but played right-back today for the first time,” Guardiola said.
“He won all the duels against Jadon Sancho and all these players. “He did it really well. “I saw many, many good things.
“Douglas Luiz was with us for the first time and Jason Denayer is a right-footer playing on the left. PEP Guardiola talked about his happiness at City after signing a three-year extension at the club.
After a disappointing first season at the club that ended without any trophies, the Blues were unstoppable last season in the Premier League as they smashed all kinds of records on their way to 100 points.
Just when supporters thought the year could not be better, in May the coach put pen to paper on a deal that could see him stay in the city for five years - longer than his tenures at Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
Speaking for the first time in public about his new deal, Guardiola made it clear that just because he has signed a contract it does not mean he is bulletproof if results take a turn for the worse.
However, the manager is clearly settled and was happy to tie himself down at a club where he is backed all the way.
“When we decided to extend the contract, first of all I am comfortable, the second one is the club trust what we are doing.
“Khaldoon [Al Mubarak], Txiki [Begiristain] and Ferran [Soriano] know it depends on results. We have three more years on the contract, but the results will dictate what will happen in the future.
“If we are not able to be consistent and be there to win the title. That’s the most important thing to arrive in April and May and be there for the title.
“As football trainers we are always in a dangerous position.
“But the family is happy living in Manchester, my experiences of the Premier League are good. I have a young team and I am comfortable working with them. “But football, when you feel you are tired and the players don’t follow you, even if I have the contact, I will speak with the people about it and we are going to find a solution. But I’ll do my best to stay this time together.” After their success last season, Guardiola is not expecting to surpass those achievements. “We are not going to break any more records in the Premier League,” he said. “The target is to see the faces on my players in the next few weeks. We are here without 15 players. When it comes back we are going to start. “We have four or five days to prepare the final against Chelsea and we are going to see their faces. “The target is the next game. “The records last season were a consequence of what we did every single day. If we are going to compare in December or January, we are going to lose all comparisons with last season.“ Pep Guardiola