Ben Guest
Pep Guardiola insisted that Manchester City put in a ‘really good’ performance, despite his side slipping to a 2-0 defeat in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
A first-half strike from Anthony Martial opened the scoring for Manchester United, the Frenchman’s effort seemingly catching goalkeeper Ederson by surprise after a quickly taken free-kick, before the Brazilian’s poor throw out was pounced on by Scott McTominay, the Scotland international stroking the ball into an empty net from all of 40 yards with virtually the last kick of the game.
Despite the scoreline, it was a game in which Manchester City dominated, particularly in the second half, though they were unable to break down a packed United defence, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer setting his side up with five at the back.
After the game, City’s Bernardo Silva said the performance from the reigning Premier League champions was ‘not acceptable’, though Pep Guardiola seemed to disagree, saying his side played well, with United sitting back and waiting for City’s ‘mistakes’.
“We played good, we missed a little in the final third but the second half was better and it was a good performance,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.
“We play the same way, tried the press and defend well and we did well.
“Our game is there, we played really good in terms of coming here. They wait and did long balls on the counter-attack for Daniel James and Anthony Martial.
“We did our game but unfortunately we conceded a goal. They waited for our mistakes.”
The result leaves City in second place in the league, 25 points behind league leaders Liverpool, who now just need two wins from their remaining nine games to secure the title.
Solskjaer insists it’s a ‘privilege’ to manage Man Utd after 2-0 Manchester Derby win
See also – Tweets of the Week: Foster’s promise, why Liverpool have struggled, and Dier’s mission