Pep Guardiola surprised by chasm between Man City and Man Utd after arriving in Jose Mourinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic era | Football News

Manchester City Establishes Dominance with 3-0 Win over United

Pep Guardiola, the head coach of Manchester City, admits that he never anticipated his team’s overwhelming dominance over their rivals Manchester United when he first took charge in 2016.

Guardiola’s 20th Manchester derby resulted in a commanding 3-0 victory for Manchester City at Old Trafford, showcasing the significant gap between the two clubs. With a nine-point lead over United after 10 games, City is operating at an entirely different level.

Since Guardiola’s arrival, Manchester City has established itself as the leading force in the Premier League, winning five out of the last six titles and securing the treble last year. In fact, City has won four major trophies since the beginning of last season, equaling the number of trophies that Manchester United has managed since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson 10 years ago.

In a post-match press conference, Guardiola expressed his surprise about the evident disparity between the two clubs and his initial expectations when he first arrived in England. He mentioned the presence of top players like Jose Mourinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Romelu Lukaku at United during his early tenure.

Guardiola then highlighted the crucial factor he believes is responsible for Manchester City’s success throughout his tenure: unity and a shared vision from the club’s leadership down to the players.

He contrasted this with the perceived lack of unity at Manchester United, with Gary Neville, a former player and now a football pundit, referring to Guardiola’s comments about stability as “a monstrous dig into the running of United!”

Guardiola said, “I said many times, we are in the same direction, the chairman, the CEO, the sport director, the manager and the players. We go there. Wrong or right, it doesn’t matter, we go there.

We make mistakes, of course. When we lose or the situation is not going well, we’re not here to blame someone. It’s okay, we will have to do better. What’s happening? The opponent is getting better, we’re getting worse. What do we have to do to find a solution? That is nice.

That’s the way we’ve done it since day one. In the first season, we didn’t win, but I didn’t feel my chairman complain, absolutely not. He supported me unconditionally. I remember when we lost the final of the Champions League to Chelsea, we were devastated. The chairman said, ‘we are going to win it, sooner or later. What do we have to do next? Come on, let’s go’.

The club relies on me, and the players know I rely on them. When that happens, we are not incredibly over-excited when we win, and when we lose, it’s not dramatic. Okay, it’s a football game, what do we have to do to get better? That’s why I think the club organization is so stable.”

Neville: Why do fantastic coaches keep failing at Man Utd?

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, Neville highlighted the “cultural failure” at Manchester United, emphasizing the stark contrast with the ethos at Manchester City.

“Erik ten Hag is a fantastic coach, we know that, we can’t dispute that,” said Neville. “Jose Mourinho is a fantastic coach, we can’t dispute that. What we have to dispute is why they keep failing at this football club. Answer that question.

It’s not because of one player or their ability. They can all take the responsibility, the medicine, and say, ‘I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve’. But it’s about cultural failure, and that’s it.”