Guardiola’s on defence over derby motivation
PEP Guardiola pointed to United’s passing statistics to defend the motivation of his City players.
Liverpool’s superiority in the Premier League is so great the cup competitions are the only chance of success for the Blues this season, and the manager talked up the ‘finals’ of Newcastle in the FA Cup and Real Madrid coming up in separate interviews on Sunday.
A flat performance from the Blues that saw them slump to losing both Premier League derbies for the first time in a decade added to the idea that the focus is on the knockout competitions, but Guardiola refused to accept that there had been a slackening of standards.
He flatly rejected Bernardo Silva’s belief that the performance had been unacceptable and appeared frustrated when he was asked about a potential lack of motivation for his players.
When he did answer, he pointed to the way his team had shut United down. The hosts were limited to just 28 per cent possession and
292 passes as opposed to 72 and 754 for the away team.
“We played really well. We didn’t lack motivation,” he said. “How they press, how they jump, how United played long balls and couldn’t make three passes in a row.
“The team wanted to do it and is able to do it, it is not a lack of concentration or motivation. Mistakes are part of the game, good actions are part of the game but the behaviour is good and how quick we move the ball, how we arrive in the final third especially in the second half in the good positions. “I’m satisfied with how we played, I know we lost, I understand the tone of the questions but I like the way we played. When I don’t like it, I tell you. Sometimes I don’t like it and sometimes the opponent was better but most of the time we have the ball we tried to create. We missed a little bit in the final third to be aggressive, especially with the quality of the players we have, but our play was good.”
Guardiola did concede that his team had not been aggressive enough in the final third against United, but when pushed on how to explain the fact they have now lost a quarter of their Premier League games this season he put the difference down to fine margins in both boxes.
The manager does not think the performance levels are far from when their title-winning best over the last two seasons, but the differences have come in the areas that matter.
“They didn’t create much except one shot from [Anthony] Martial winning a duel with Fernandinho and in the second half one shot from [Dan] James,” he maintained. “Otherwise they didn’t do much. I think we controlled it.
“We didn’t create much in the second half except one shot, we spoke about that at half-time but in the second one we were more aggressive with our shooting – two from Phil. It is difficult because they are there, they don’t move.
“All the time we put the ball there and there are seven or eight players there. It is not easy but in these type of games the little mistakes in the boxes make a difference. Sometimes we arrive the first time and score, that is the difference. But what we have to look for and try to see is the way we behave and the way we played is quite similar to the way we played in the past two seasons.”
The team wanted to do it and is able to do it – it is not a lack of concentration or motivation
Pep Guardiola