Pep Guardiola hasn’t had the best of records against the city rivals, losing three of the last four meetings against Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer heading into Saturday's league match at Old Trafford.
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Manchester City travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in the Premier League fixture on Saturday. City boss Pep Guardiola hasn’t had the best of records against the city rivals, losing three of his last four meetings against the United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. However the Spanish tactician was quick to point out that while the Red Devils have been better in the Derby, City has finished above United in every Premier League season since he took over in 2016, also won three league titles.
“They are a good, good team and this can happen, but we don’t forget the points in the last five or six years,” Guardiola told Sky Sports News.
“In every single season, we were ahead of them in the Premier League.
“So you want to say, ‘Okay they beat us,’ it’s because it can happen, and they are good.
“But when I landed here to finish after five seasons – this is the sixth – the amount of points ahead that we are if we count every single season – at the end that is what counts.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has turned out to be Solskjaer’s go-to-man this season since rejoining the Red Devils this summer from Juventus. The Portuguese legend, at 36 year of age has scored 9 goals in 11 appearances, including crucial goals in the Champions League games.
Guardiola was full of praise for the four time Ballon d’or winner.
He said: “I think he has scored goals all his life and when he is 75 – maybe he will be retired – but at the barbecue, if they’re playing a game, he is going to score a goal.”
“These type of guys, like [Lionel] Messi, like him..what they have done, or what Ronaldo has done in the last decade in world football, scoring goals and helping his teams to win.
“It speaks for itself.”
Guardiola was unable to sign a striker this summer. Although Manchester City went hard to bring in Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur, in the end, it didn’t happen. Meanwhile Ronaldo’s name was also linked with the blue half of Manchester but the former Real Madrid forward joined the red half.
“It’s good for the Premier League him coming back,” said Guardiola.
“United belongs to Cristiano. Cristiano belongs to United. It was a good fitting in the past, maybe it will be good in the present and the future.”
Meanwhile Manchester City’s form off late has been ‘hot and cold’. The Cityzens have won two of their last four games in all competitions. City thrashed Club Brugge 4-1 in their last match but suffered a 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace in the Premier League fixture on October 30. Prior to that, West Ham got the better of City in the EFL Cup match, on penalties, after the game ended goalless in normal time.
At times City seems to be struggling to find the back of the net, as seen against Crystal Palace and West Ham. Guardiola’s team sometimes misses the services of a proven goal scorer. City hasn’t been able to replace Sergio Aguero, who left as a free agent to join Barcelona this summer.
Although Gabriel Jesus is a quality striker he is yet to prove himself as a dependable and consistent goal scorer.
“I am not a magician to know what is going to happen this season,” said the City manager.
“If I knew I would tell you. But first I would tell my team. Just trust a bit how many goals we scored last season without a striker because unfortunately Sergio was injured all season.
“Maybe in the future Manchester City will be a proper striker, a No 9, and they will not score goals. Who knows? We are who we are, we move forward in this sense.
“I spoke many times about this argument. We wanted to do it, we could not do it, that is all. We have enough players to do it.”
