City’s dominance a surprise, says Guardiola
Manager ‘never expected’ such a gap over United Spaniard insists Solskjaer is doing ‘really good job’
Pep Guardiola has turned up the temperature before today’s Manchester derby by admitting he could never have imagined such a gulf would develop between the teams.
Manchester City travel to Old Trafford this afternoon, leading United by 15 points with a game in hand and hoping to atone for December’s 2-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
City finished 32 points clear of United last term, 19 points ahead in the previous campaign and nine points above their bitter rivals in Guardiola’s debut season in 2016-17, the back-toback champions’ ascent under the Catalan coinciding with their neighbour’s continuing struggles. And the City manager said he could not have envisaged such a scenario after taking over a side who had finished level on points with United in Manuel Pellegrini’s final season in charge.
“I never expected this position the previous seasons we finished when I arrived here in England, and right now to have this distance against United in three or four years,” Guardiola said.
Hopes of a renewal in Manchester of the titanic and at times toxic rivalry between Guardiola and Jose Mourinho at Barcelona and Real Madrid respec- tively failed to materialise as City left United firmly in the shade.
City have been given a taste of what it is like to languish so far behind runaway leaders this season. But, despite insisting he can see signs of United im- proving under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who replaced Mourinho 15 months ago, Guardiola admits he has been surprised by the scale of their under-achievement in recent years.
“I think the quality of United, no doubts about how big it is,” Guardiola said. “I appreciate a lot the manager. I think he represents United in an exceptional way and I think the players, when you analyse individually and collectively, they are so good. So that is why I don’t see it. Manchester City wants to improve, too, so at the end of the season the distance is what it is. This doesn’t deny the quality, so when you are 22 points behind Liverpool, it is because they were much better than us.”
United are hoping to complete a league double over City for the first time in a decade. While City could still complete a treble of Champions
League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup, United – unbeaten in their past nine matches – remain in contention in the FA Cup and Europa League and Guardiola said he had been pleased to see the Old Trafford hierarchy giving Sol- skjaer time to rebuild.
“Always I believe that managers and the clubs need time to implant, to build something the manager and club believe in,” he said. “Results sometimes take the decision to break that process. I am not part of United, but what I feel is that people believe in Ole and I think he is doing a really good job.”
United’s poor recruitment since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 has been a significant factor behind their troubles. They have committed the sort of fees on Paul Pogba (£89million) and Harry Maguire and Romelu Lukaku (£80 million each) that City have yet to reach, but Guardiola said the most important thing was proper due diligence and clarity over the team’s specific requirements.
“The important thing is to buy good players who fit the way you want to play,” he said. “The important thing is to take all the information about the player to reduce the uncertainty of a player being at a new club.”