Pep Guardiola said he is “not good enough” after Manchester City fell to a dramatic late derby defeat to Manchester United which extended their dire run to eight losses in 11 games.
City led through Josko Gvardiol’s 36th-minute header but Matheus Nunes’s defensive lapse conceded an 88th-minute penalty, which Bruno Fernandes converted, before Amad Diallo’s winner just before the end of regulation time.
Guardiola said: “Today we have to win. I’m the boss, I’m the manager and I’m not good enough. I have to find solutions and so far I haven’t. That’s the reality.”
The manager was asked if he still believes he can turn it around. “I want it, desperately. But eight out of 11? I’m here to try and will try again and again. That is the reality.
“In a big club, when you lose eight in 11 something wrong is happening. I can say the schedule is tough, injuries to players but 3-0 against Feyenoord [after 74 minutes] and we draw the game. Is it injuries or the schedule? No.”
Guardiola is in his ninth year in charge at the club and was asked if he is losing his magic and energy. “I didn’t have energy or magic before. I was no magician. You never saw me here when we won and I said: ‘I am a magician.’”
Bernardo Silva was scathing regarding City’s naivety. “It’s not one game, it’s a lot of games lately. We have to look at ourselves. You can say: ‘Oh it’s a bit unlucky.’ No. It’s the decisions you make.
“Today in the last minute we played like under-15s. We don’t want this to happen. It’s a bit frustrating because if you look at the game, until the 86th minute there was only one team that could win. There’s no excuse for that.”
United’s victory followed losses to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest in their past two league matches. Ruben Amorim dropped Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from the match-day squad. The manager said this was not a disciplinary matter.
“It is important to say why, it was not a disciplinary thing,” the Portuguese said. “Next week, next game: new life. They are fighting for their places but for me it is important the performance in training, the performance in games, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with your teammates, the way you push your teammates.
“Everything is important in our context in the beginning of something [his tenure] when we want to change a lot of things – when people in our club are losing their jobs, we have to set the standards really high.
“For example with Rash, we tried a thing [before] and it didn’t work. Let’s continue to do the same thing or try something different? For that, they have to fight for their place in the team and today the team proved we can leave anyone outside the squad and manage to win if you play together.”
It was suggested that Amorim’s mention of dress sounded like a disciplinary reason. “You can dress in the way that I really don’t like but it is not a disciplinary thing. It’s like the small details. It’s more like performance in training and games,” he said.
Rashford reacted to the win on Instagram. “‘Yesssssssss! Love it lads,” the forward wrote. The post was accompanied by two red heart emojis and a photo of Diallo.
United are now 13th, with 22 points, five behind City, who are fifth. “We will have three games, it will change the way we see the games,” said Amorim, looking forward to Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham and the following league games with Bournemouth and Wolves. “Today is a good day.”
