Guardiola surprised by the difference between Man City and Man Utd

Coach Pep Guardiola admitted that he never thought that Man City would create a big gap in level with Man Utd when he took over at Etihad Stadium in 2016.

"I know what Man City did and I don't know what Man Utd did, because I didn't work there," Guardiola said after the win at Old Trafford. "But to be honest, I didn't expect the gap between the two teams to be like this, because I came here with Jose Mourinho. At that time, Man Utd had Zlatan Ibrahimovic and many top players. They also signed Romelu Lukaku in 2017."

Guardiola directs Haaland in Man City's 3-0 defeat of Man Utd in round 10 of the Premier League at Old Trafford on October 29. Photo: Reuters — Guardiola directs Haaland in Man City's 3-0 defeat of Man Utd in round 10 of the Premier League at Old Trafford on October 29. Photo: *Reuters*

Since taking over in 2016, Guardiola has helped City dominate English football, winning the Premier League in five of the last six seasons and a historic treble last season. City have won four major trophies in the last two seasons, the same number as Manchester United since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

Man Utd also had high expectations when appointing coach Jose Mourinho to replace Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2016. The "Special One" helped Man Utd win the Community Shield, League Cup and Europa League in his first season, but due to declining performance, he was fired in December 2018. After that, the "Red Devils" appointed two official coaches, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and two interim coaches, Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick.

According to Guardiola, the most important reason for Man City's success during his tenure is the common direction in the club and the solidarity of all members, from the chairman, CEO, sporting director, coaching staff to the players.

"Of course, we make mistakes," the Spanish coach said. "When Man City lose or things don't go well, we don't look for someone to blame. When opponents improve and Man City play worse, we try to find a solution. That's great. That's how we've done it, from day one."

At Old Trafford on October 29, Man City dominated with 61% possession, 21 shots with 10 on target - compared to 7 and 3 of their opponents, and won 3-0 thanks to a brace from Erling Haaland and the decisive goal from Phil Foden.

This performance and result further highlighted the dominance and huge gap between Man City and Man Utd. Under Guardiola, Man City earned 145 more points than Man Utd (649 vs 504), won 60 more Premier League games (205 vs 145) and scored 229 more goals (681 vs 452).

Haaland scored the opening penalty in Man City's 3-0 win over Man Utd on October 29. Photo: Reuters — Haaland scored the opening penalty in Man City's 3-0 win over Man Utd on October 29. Photo: *Reuters*

Guardiola was pleased with Man City's performance and saw Haaland's second goal as a turning point, which left Man Utd demoralised. The Spanish coach also said Man City had planned, applied tactics and showed better spirit compared to the 0-1 loss at Arsenal earlier this month.

Bernardo Silva shared this view when he said: "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 losses of the ball, we didn't give Man Utd many chances to counter-attack."

Hong Duy

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