Pep Guardiola admits he had concerns at the start of the season over whether his Manchester City squad were ready to defend their titles for a third season in succession.
City have won back-to-back Premier League titles for the second time under Guardiola, and are hoping to defend their crown again this season. However, Arsenal currently sit in pole position in the table, five points ahead of the Blues.
Guardiola had to admit after the midweek defeat at Southampton in the Carabao Cup that his squad was not ready to compete in that quarter-final, with captain Ilkay Gundogan saying 'something was missing' and that City's 'desire and hunger' has slipped of late.
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Asked if that was a concern going into Saturday's derby at Manchester United, Guardiola said he was not surprised that a performance like the Southampton one was coming, hinting at doubts stemming from before the campaign began, but defended his side against any over-reactions from that game.
"City fans cannot complain what this team is able to do, have done, do and will do," he said. "We cannot talk on behalf of the fans, because there are millions and we don’t know what every single one thinks. Saying that, what happened didn't surprise me, it happened. We tried to avoid it. Hopefully it won't happen again.
"It happens because we do four Premier League titles in five years. Sometimes you need to reset. The Carabao Cup shows me in terms of consistency that we are able to do it. This was our strength as a team in previous seasons, but after back to back two times, this can happen.
"We are not ready to go there and be ourselves. I'm not talking about winning the Carabao Cup or winning games, it’s be ourselves and behave how we have to do in every single game.
"I was a little bit concerned at the beginning of the season that it could happen, and unfortunately it happened, I don’t know if it will happen again but we will try to do it."
With the chance to move two points behind Arsenal - but a risk of having United move just a point behind City - Guardiola knows that the derby carries more jeopardy than previous meetings.
"There are many games still to play, we play United, Thursday against Spurs," he said.
"I don’t care, after Southampton it’s the last thing I'm worried about, we recover who we are. Important games this season we’ve been there, but just with the important teams, this is normal after the results in the previous seasons and we have to change it immediately. I have no concerns about it at all."
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