After a 3-0 victory in the Premier League last night, Coach Pep Guardiola admitted he never thought that during his time at the Etihad, he would see such a substantial difference in quality between Man City and Man Utd.
“I know what Man City has done, and I don’t know what Man Utd has done because I haven’t worked there,” Guardiola said after the victory at Old Trafford. “But, honestly, I didn’t expect the gap between the two teams to be this large at this point because I came here alongside Jose Mourinho. Back then, Man Utd had players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and many top-class players. They even signed Romelu Lukaku in 2017.”
Since taking charge in 2016, Guardiola has helped Man City dominate English football, winning the Premier League in five of the last six seasons and achieving a historic treble last season.
Man Utd was also expected to achieve great things when they appointed Mourinho to replace Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2016. “The Special One” helped Man Utd win the English Super Cup, the League Cup, and the Europa League in his first season, but due to declining performances, he was dismissed in December 2018. After that, the “Red Devils” appointed two permanent managers, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag, and two interim managers, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick.
According to Guardiola, the most important reason for Man City’s success during his tenure is the standard direction within the club and the unity of all members, from the president, CEO, sports director, coaching staff, and players. “Of course, we also make mistakes,” the Spanish coach expressed. “When Man City fails or is not doing well, we don’t look to blame someone. When our opponents improve while Man City performs poorly, we try to find solutions. That’s amazing. That’s how we’ve done it from day one.”
On Old Trafford’s pitch yesterday, Man City dominated by having 61% possession, taking 21 shots with ten on target, compared to Man Utd’s seven shots with three on target, resulting in a 3-0 win with Erling Haaland scoring twice and Phil Foden sealing the score. This performance and outcome further underline the dominance and significant gap between Man City and Man Utd. Under Guardiola’s leadership, Man City has accumulated more points than Man Utd (649 to 504), won more Premier League matches (205 to 145), and scored more goals (681 to 452).
Guardiola was pleased with Man City’s performance and saw Haaland’s second goal as a turning point that demoralized Man Utd. The Spanish coach also believed that Man City had a plan, applied tactics, and displayed better spirit than their 0-1 loss to Arsenal earlier this month.
Bernardo Silva shared this perspective: “The way we controlled the game, especially the first 30 minutes of the second half, was good. We couldn’t do that against Arsenal, but today we played great. It’s not easy to do that at Old Trafford. Apart from a few turnovers, we didn’t give Man Utd many opportunities to counter.”
