Pep Guardiola has claimed Manchester City are not ready to compete against the best sides in Europe, despite extending their winning start to the Premier League campaign with a 2-1 derby victory over Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.
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Mourinho opted to pick Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard as wide players, while leaving out Anthony Martial and Juan Mata. Both looked lost at Old Trafford and were hauled off at half-time.
“I think in the first half they were much better than us”. But this is football.
The relationship between the two clubs is set to become even more intense after the appointments of Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho following their bitter relationship over the years.
If Bravo’s approach gives City’s faithful palpitations, they had better get used to it. “I always try to learn from all my colleagues and I learn from him as well”, he was quoted as saying by Manchester Evening News.
Kevin De Bruyne’s composed finish and Kelechi Iheanacho’s tap-in placed Guardiola’s men on top in the first half that saw a flurry of attacks from the visitors.
Bravo instigated another risky first-half attack by skimming a long throw between two United midfielders and to the feet of De Bruyne.
City’s win, their 50th in competitive derby matches, saw them end United’s ideal start to the season.
“We could play with some individuals with some qualities who didn’t give me what I want”.
‘We need to be sharp the way we think, the way we play. The team paid for it.
When United did have the ball in that first half, they were hounded out of possession, although Mourinho will berate them for how panicked them became.
“The rivalry between us is more in the media”.
“I know what he wants”.
“That for us, in the preparation of the game, makes us have to go step-by-step with every situation because we are trying to reduce the unpredictability of the game”.
“But when we did win the ball we had the chance for the counter-attacks, and we had many, but we just didn’t finish”.
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Guardiola explained the move by emphasising the importance of having a goalkeeper who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and he said Bravo’s ball-playing ability would prove invaluable.
