Guardiola: We can beat you with our reserves, United
Pep Guardiola will not allow himself to be distracted by the EFL Cup, even though the fourth round tie pits him against Jose Mourinho, again.
|||London - Faced with his worst run as a coach and his greatest adversary, Pep Guardiola will put Manchester City’s needs ahead of personal pride and rotate his squad at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Whether that constitutes as much of an affront to Jose Mourinho’s ego as Chelsea’s 4-0 demolition of Manchester United on his return to Stamford Bridge on Sunday is another matter.
But Guardiola will not allow himself to be distracted by the EFL Cup, even though the fourth round tie pits him against Mourinho for the second time in six weeks and threatens to extend the Spaniard’s winless run to six games.
‘I think everyone can believe this competition is not the big one,’ said Guardiola on Tuesday. ‘Before that you’ve got the Premier League, the (FA) Cup, the Champions League.
‘I never consider one game more important, but our last games were tough. I have to consider the condition of the players. Three days after it’s West Brom (in the Premier League) then Barcelona, and they are so important as well. We are going to rotate. Some of them will play, first because they deserve and second because it was tough in the last games. People are tired.’
Guardiola confirmed that Willy Caballero would play in goal. Some of the youngsters who appeared in the win at Swansea in the last round could also feature.
When news of the fourth-round draw reached City’s dressing-room at the Liberty Stadium, Guardiola and his players thought it was a hoax. Sergio Aguero was the first to realise it wasn’t and burst into laughter. That match fell 11 days after Guardiola’s first meeting with Mourinho in English football had ended with a 2-1 win for City at Old Trafford.
For Mourinho, stung by that defeat as much as Sunday’s at Chelsea, Wednesday night’s rematch is more important to United than it is to City. After all, despite Guardiola’s recent blip, his team are still top of the table.
They were scintillating in the first half at Old Trafford last month, and far more dominant than a 2-1 half-time lead suggests. However, Mourinho has been given some encouragement by the manner in which he thought Guardiola bowed to a resurgent United in the second half. The City boss replaced young striker Kelechi Iheanacho with defensive midfielder Fernando eight minutes after the interval. Guardiola’s side began to sit deeper and pass longer, something Mourinho had never seen before from his rival.
He still maintains that had referee Mark Clattenburg awarded a penalty for Claudio Bravo’s challenge on Wayne Rooney and sent off the City goalkepeer, United might have taken all three points.
The memory of that day and, perhaps more so, the painful experience at Stamford Bridge has given United’s players incentive to put things right. ‘This is obviously a chance to bounce back,’ midfielder Michael Carrick told MUTV last night. ‘To have a game so big so quickly changes the focus.
‘I know City have had a tough run themselves, but the quality they have got speaks for itself. We are well aware of what the game is going to bring. I think there is pressure regardless of whatever run you are on, going into a game like this. There is a pressure to perform and pressure to get the result.’
Guardiola is confident his players are buying into his methods. ‘My feeling is they are happy,’ he said. ‘We are doing a lot of good things but of course we need a victory as soon as possible.’
City have been practising penalties in case on Wednesday night’s game ends all square after extra-time having missed four of their eight attempts from the spot this season.
Yaya Toure, arguably City’s most reliable penalty taker, will not be called upon as he has yet to apologise over comments his agent Dimitri Seluk made about the club.
‘I would like to come with Yaya, believe me, I would like, but you know the situation,’ said Guardiola.
Daily Mail