Guardiola will not change Man City’s game plan for Carabao Cup derby despite last month’s United loss
PEP GUARDIOLA insists he will not change Manchester City’s game plan to avoid another derby defeat.
Manchester United caught the Premier League champions cold with their pace when they claimed a shock 2-1 at the Etihad last month.
That evening, City’s creaking defence struggled to cope with the pace of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, who both scored in a 2-1 win.
Yet City boss Guardiola says he was pleased with his team’s performance that day and does not see the need to change to deal with United’s “runners” in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
And he has vowed to go on the attack at Old Trafford and try to get the goals which would put his team on course for a third straight final.
City boss Guardiola said: “When they can run they are one of the best teams not just in England.
“I would say that because of the pace they have, James or Mason Greenwood right now and Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.
“I have the feeling they are going to run – as many times as possible. We have to reduce the mistakes in the build-up and be prepared for that.
“It will be quite a similar game. It is a team that is built to run.
ACCA WITH LADBROKES Pick up a whole load of acca features to help you land the big one
“But we have to do our game so I am not going to prepare our game just thinking ‘don’t let them run’.
“We have to go there, try to score a goal, play our game and try to get a good result from there.
“I would like to play in Old Trafford like we did here most of the game – except the first minutes when we conceded three or four times they could run.”
“The rest of the game I liked a lot the game we played, the chances we create in many situations. So I would like to play quite similar.”
Both teams made changes for their FA Cup ties at the weekend – and Guardiola could change his entire startling line-up at Old Trafford.
But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also rested players for the trip to Wolves – possibly with one eye on the semi-final derby.
Guardiola knows in a two-legged semi-final it is unlikely anything will be decided on Tuesday night.
He said: “I saw the line-up they make before the game against Wolves and they make a lot of changes so I guess they will be focused.
Most Read In Sport
“But there are two games to this semi-final.
“We don’t have much too time but we have two days and a half to train and prepare the game we want to do.
“We have to go there to try and take a good result to the second leg here with our people, our fans to reach three years in a row the final of the competition.”