When Manchester United run, they’re the best in England, admits Pep Guardiola
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that his Carabao Cup semi-final opponents’ Manchester United are one of the best sides in the world when they run. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his side won the last encounter between the two sides with them now set to battle it out over two legs.
The Red Devils produced a brilliant display of counter-attacking football against Guardiola’s Manchester City the last time around for a 2-1 win. Neither the Cityzens or the former Barcelona boss could do anything to stop Manchester United and many expect the same over the next two legs in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
However, in his pre-match interview, Guardiola went on to admit that he expects the Red Devils to put up the same game-plan but wouldn’t reveal his plan to stop them. The former Bayern Munich boss also added that Solskjaer’s side are one of the best teams in the world on the counter and few defences can stop them.
"It will be quite similar. Of course at Old Trafford it will be quite different to here, but they are a team that are built to run. When they can run they are one of the best teams, and not just in England, I would say, because of the pace they have - James, Greenwood, Martial, Rashford and Lingard,” said Guardiola reported Sky Sports.
"I have the feeling they are going to run, one or two or three times, or as many times as possible, and we have to reduce the mistakes in the build-up. We have to be prepared for that but we have to do our game."
The Cityzens failed to do much in the sides’ first encounter with a goal from Nicolas Otamendi the only shining light at the end of the defeat. But despite that Guardiola went to admit that he felt that his side did not do too much wrong with them creating a lot of chances and dominating the ball for large parts of the game.
"I am not going to prepare our game just thinking, 'don't let them run’. We have to go there and try to score a goal, play our game and try to get a good result from there. Except, the first minutes when we conceded three or four times when they could run, the rest of the game I liked a lot the game we played and the chances we created in many situations. I would like to play quite similar," he added.
