Pep Guardiola looked ahead to the Manchester derby by calling on his team to repeat the kind of performance they last produced against Ruben Amorim.
“I would like to play the game like we played in Lisbon on Sunday, believe me,” Guardiola said. “The way we played in Lisbon, I would like to play on Sunday. I don't know if we'll be able to do that – for many reasons – but we'll see.”
Alarmingly for City fans, Sporting Lisbon – in one of Amorim's last games in charge – defeated the Premier League title holders 4-1 in that Champions League match. That was one of seven defeats for City in their last ten games and Guardiola now faces Amorim again in the new United manager's first derby at the Etihad.
And while Guardiola clearly believes the loss in Lisbon did not reflect the balance of that match and was a bizarre result, he is clearly a great admirer of Amorim. Guardiola said: “He will do well at United, I am quite sure. He will do it. It is already there, all the patterns. They are starting to do it, the good movements, the runners and the pace.”
Only one of the seven defeats came at the Etihad, but Guardiola understands the supporters' growing frustration, saying: “I know our fans are sad and I completely understand it. Maybe in some seasons we lost seven or eight games in a year and now we've done that in a month and a half. But they know this group of players created an eight- to 10-year era that no one has ever done.”
While fans may be 'sad', Guardiola has admitted City's surprising slump has seen him struggle with his sleeping and eating habits. He told Amazon Prime earlier this week: “I don't sleep well and I don't digest. I always have to eat light.”
But on the eve of the derby, Guardiola insisted he was in good form.
“I'm fine,” he smiled. “In our work we always want to do our best or the best possible. If that doesn't happen, you feel more uncomfortable than if the situation is going well.”
And what makes Pep uneasy ahead of the United clash is his ongoing fitness issues, meaning he only has three defenders – Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol – available.
“I don't know what to do,” Guardiola said. “I need players. We have three and we will see what happens today and tomorrow. Maybe a winger should play as a full-back or Matheus.” [Nunes] can play as a wing-back, or perhaps play five at the back with full-backs as wingers. We are thinking about what to do with a situation where we have only three central defenders.”
But despite the defeat to Juventus extending City's run to just one win in 10 games, Guardiola believes his team is not underperforming.
He said: “I am very happy with the way we played and I know perfectly whether we are playing well or not well. We need to shoot more in the final third. We have to defend better. We have to avoid making mistakes on both sides, yes… but the game is there.”
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