Liverpool the only Premier League team who can attack Man City, Manchester City manager
Manchester City manager believes every team except Liverpool, and a small handful now defend deep against Man City team.
Pep Guardiola says that Liverpool are the only team left in the Premier League who are prepared to take on his team as equals.
The Manchester City manager saw Everton sit in and defend as his Blues side hammered away at them in a tense encounter at Goodison Park on Saturday eventually won by Phil Foden’s late strike.
And he said that virtually the whole league now takes that approach, by setting their team up to defend deep and try to counter-attack.
Asked if he has found teams are sitting deeper and deeper against his side this season, having had their fingers burned by trying to go toe to toe with them, Guardiola said: “Yeah. Maybe we provoke them but most of them except Liverpool I would say, Brighton I would say, Arsenal in some moments I would say … let me think about it, maybe I’m forgetting someone.
“Aston Villa, we played there a little bit too. There are moments when they did it. But as a principle, when we make a good build-up, they sit.
“Leeds, as well. The rest, they sit back. But, honestly, I’m not saying anything wrong. Every manager, every team can do whatever they want, absolutely.
“It’s in our hands how to break them — teams that are high pressing, how to do it, and when teams sit back, how we have to do it.
“And one of the principles is be patient, don’t concede goals, don’t concede deep runs from them, counter attacks and be patient and in the right moment we can do it. Let’s continue doing it like this.”
Guardiola warned City fans that the remaining 11 games will be the same, saying that the days of winning 7-0 and 5-0, as they did in the first half of the season, are over.
“Every game will be similar like we lived (at Everton),” he said. “For sure. It’s finished the games with big margins of goals.
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