Pep defends sub decision
PEP Guardiola hailed a good point for City from the derby.
The Blues played out a dull draw that leaves them a point behind their neighbours and still outside the top four after 11 matches.
While another clean sheet for Ruben Dias and John Stones was encouraging, the attack again failed to fire with Gabriel Jesus now without a goal in more than a month.
However, the City coach was happy enough with the chances that his team created as well as being delighted with the stability shown at the back to keep United quiet.
“We know we can go through more intensity but when you’re not settled down properly, they are very fast, they can hurt you on the counter attack,” said Guardiola.
“We would have loved to have more chances but we had Gabriel, we had Raz [Sterling], we had [Riyad] Mahrez one-v-one, [whereas] they had one corner in the first half.
“We have to build from here. With no spectators it looks like a lack of intensity, but from the touchline I see the players run.
“It’s a good point, I’d love to win but it’s okay. It’s Old Trafford, it’s a tough, tough opponent, they press, they’re so fast up front - it’s Man United. Most of the parts of the game were good, really good.
“I know the expectation is always so high at Manchester City and we accept this, but the result is good.”
Guardiola decided against bringing on more than one substitute during the stalemate, and revealed he kept players on the bench because those on the pitch were ‘sharp’.
The Blues boss has been a strong advocate of the Premier League bringing in five substitutions this season but he’s now only used five replacements in the last four games, two of which were injury-enforced.
Against United he only bought Ferran Torres on for Riyad Mahrez with 24 minutes remaining, ignoring the claims of Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva.
“My decision. I saw the team and the players there looked sharp., Kevin, Gaby, we had chances,” he said.
“The rules are the rules and I have to use the rules. Maybe next game we’ll do three, maybe in the Champions League maybe we’ll use five. I have the rules and I use the rules as I want.”