Pep Guardiola let his mask slip this week, and Manchester City could be stronger for it.
In previous big games, Guardiola has been at pains to stress each fixture is worth the same amount of points, and the only way to win the title is to take every game in isolation. If, or when, three points follow, there is little reflection on the previous 90 minutes and simply a message to focus on City's next game.
Every opponent is praised, taken as seriously as the next, and Guardiola has underlined his success by keeping his true feelings close to his chest. It's the same approach taken by Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, with both managers in a press conference chess game of praising the other but insisting they can't affect the other and must only focus on themselves. This weekend, Guardiola took a different tactic.
