Pep Guardiola has retaliated, albeit in a classy manner, at Gary Neville after the former Man United defender claimed he didn’t tune in to Man City’s Champions League win in midweek as he finds them ‘boring to watch’.
Guardiola coolly insisted it “doesn’t matter” the Sky Sports pundit finds his City side boring after comments he had made earlier in the week after City continuted to play true to their formidable form by seeing off Copenhagen in the first-leg of their Champions League knockout tie on Tuesday night. The European Cup holders were easy 3-1 winners and were in total control in Copenhagen.
Being dominantly in control of matches is already a trademark fof the Manchester outfit ever since Guardiola made his debut at the club. As such, his unyielding demand for control of matches on the pitch often sees City dictating games, which could be why Neville suggests they can sometimes be “unwatchable”.
With their established habit of continuing to pick up silverware with alarming regularity, Pep has led his team to five titles in six years, including the treble last term. The celebrated Spaniard as usual reflected his classy way of doing things when he maintained they will be their own assessors and believes people recognise how hard it is to do what they’ve done.
Guardiola said: “It depends on us and how satisfied we are – that is what belongs to us. If people don’t appreciate it, it doesn’t matter. It’s not a big, big problem. We are still here, the importance is to feel still for ourselves. Not because of the compliments from outside or the regrets from outside.”
He also added: “What can I say?. It’s so fine. Thank you [Neville] for the compliment. Everything is so difficult in football. We are admired, I am pretty sure of that, [by] the people in the world of football who know how difficult it is being six or seven years there in all competitions every week.”
Neville – who has admitted previously that he finds Liverpoo being easier to watch due to their counter-attacking nature and didn’t even tune in to watch City’s game during the weekhad – had been discussing the European champions on his Stick to Football podcast.
He said: “I didn’t switch City on on Tuesday night. I felt a bit bored … It’s a bit of hornet’s nest because I think to call City boring would be wrong because the football they play is outstanding. I thought they were boring and found it difficult to watch them but since [Erling] Haaland’s gone [there] they are a bit more imperfect. I like them a lot more with the four big defenders and Haaland up front.
Roy Keane, however, was in total disagreement with his former United teammate and had this to say instead: “[Manchester City are boring] because they’re so brilliant! I get where people are coming from, but I wouldn’t agree when fans say that about City [being boring] – they’re very technical, and the stats the other night are unbelievable. I know it was just FC Copenhagen, but they beat Manchester United. I admire that stuff – I admire when a team can dominate so much, whether it be possession, the players, their style. I like their style of play because of the brilliance of it.