Pep Guardiola isn't shy when it comes to backing himself, his players and telling others he doesn't disagree with them.
The Manchester City boss has dominated English football since arriving from Bayern Munich in 2016. He's eyeing a fifth Premier League title in six years with his side looking rampant, in part down to the goals of Erling Haaland. Guardiola has previously had to defend his tactics and his decisions in the transfer market.
The Catalan is not known for being overly confrontation, but when challenged in press conferences has shown himself more than willing to respond. Ahead of City's trip to Anfield, where they've only won once in the past two decades, Guardiola has hit back at Alan Shearer, who gave his opinion on Haaland's exploits.
Shearer's Kane admission
City's summer signing has already scored 15 times in the league, which includes three hat-tricks in successive home games. The Norwegian is thriving in a side that continue to supply him regularly as he looks a cert to claim the Golden Boot in his debut year.
That said, Shearer, the record Premier League marksman, believes Harry Kane would be just as prolific if he were leading City's attack. He said in the Athletic: "If Harry was in this City team, he would be scoring as many goals as Erling has. This is dreamland for any top forward. I’ve said it all along - a top goalscorer in this City team should score 40 goals. If Erling stays fit, then he’ll get that and maybe even some more."
Guardiola, who previously made moves to sign Kane from Tottenham, refused to entertain Shearer's idea and he respond: "I don't know. I don't have the ability to know what would happen if Harry Kane was here. Alan was a striker, maybe he knows better than me."
Evra's 'no personality' jibe
Patrice Evra, whose loyalty certainly lies on the red half of Manchester, took the chance to attack Guardiola after City were dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid last term. The English side had led until late on, but were unable to get over the line, which saw Evra take aim at their lack of leadership.
The Frenchman said: “Manchester City needs leaders, but Guardiola doesn't want leaders. He doesn't want personality. He's the leader. That's why when they're in trouble they don't want to... they don't have anyone on the pitch to help them. He chooses his teams like that, he can't train people with personality. He did it at Barcelona, but he builds his team to control everyone. When things go wrong, he always decides."
Evra twice lost to Guardiola's Barcelona side in the past, which the City used as he fired back. He said in response: "Former players like Berbatov, Clarence Seedorf and Patrice Evra and these types of people were there, and I played against them. I didn't see this kind of personality when I destroyed them, we destroyed them, in the Champions League final against United."
A style that won't work?
When Guardiola came to England he was renowned for his possession-based style which had earned the name tiki-taka. The Catalan had revolutionised several aspects of football and was content to play with one sitting midfielder alongside a host of attacking players.
Gary Neville claimed, in Guardiola's first year, that such a method would eventually come back to bite City defensively. He has persevered with it and firmly had the last laugh, but issued a response back in 2017.
He said: “Gary Neville only played in England, he didn’t play in other countries so he cannot compare. The games have to be more physical, but in Germany they are still physical and at Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid it’s the same. Football is football everywhere. The contract is more allowed [in the Premier League] – that is the only difference. To compare, my advice would be to play in other countries.”
Going for Neville.. again
The ever opinionated Neville found himself in a war of words with Guardiola once again, less than a year after his aforementioned comment. The City boss, struggling with injuries, opted to name less than the allotted amount of subs for a trip to Burnley.
Neville felt he could've - and should've - utilised one of his academy players to further their development, claiming his decision was a "joke". He added: "If you're the academy or reserve team manager at Manchester City, you must think: 'I'm wasting my time'."
Guardiola, who clearly disagreed with Neville's opinion, referenced the pundit's failed spell as a manager when responding. He said: "This guy, the pundit, he has to know my job is serious. It's not a joke, never is it a joke. It's so serious. And he should know that because he was a manager - for a short time."
Not signing a defender
Back in the summer of 2019 City said goodbye to Vincent Kompany, but chose not to replace the legendary Belgian. Instead they stuck with what they had, but were left struggling when Aymeric Laporte got injured in the early weeks of the season.
It shone a light on Guardiola's decision not to pursue a new centre-half, although they were reportedly in the race for Harry Maguire before he chose their local neighbours. Pundits from all quarters took aim at City's poor planning, but Guardiola defended their decisions.
He said: "People believe still, of course we spent a lot two seasons ago but last season one player, this season a little bit more so we could not pay the money wanted but we have an alternative and sometimes when that happens, the team unites better and we are going to find solutions to do that."
