Man City ‘Do Not Have A Chance Against Man United’ – Guardiola Admits

Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City “do not have a chance” against Manchester United if they repeat their showing in the defeat at Southampton.

After falling to Southampton 2-0, City was eliminated from the Carabao Cup. This was the first time since April 2018 that City failed to attempt a single shot on goal.

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Guardiola was uncompromising in his evaluation of his side after the game and issued a dire warning that if they do not make substantial progress this weekend in the derby, they will suffer yet another defeat.

He said, “The best team won. They were better. We didn’t play well. We had a bad start and we didn’t perform good. Today was not even close to what we are. We were not prepared to play in this competition to get to the semi-finals. We were not ready.

“You have to be prepared for every single game when you play for Manchester City and today we were not. If we perform this way (in the Manchester derby) we do not have a chance. I have the feeling today the line-up doesn’t matter, the performance happens. We were not here.”

The two goals City gave up on a disastrous night at St Mary’s were the result of individual errors by Sergio Gomez and bad positioning by Stefan Ortega.

In an effort to turn the game around, Guardiola elected to start the match with the big guns on the bench but added Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake, and Manuel Akanji at halftime, followed by Erling Haaland and Rodri in the second. However, it wasn’t enough to make up for the terrible start, which saw them down by two goals after only 30 minutes.

Guardiola’s team will now turn their attention to the Premier League and a crucial matchup with archrivals Manchester United in the derby on Saturday after a shocking defeat in the Carabao Cup.