Man City are no longer ‘noisy neighbours’… and Utd derby is NOT biggest game, says Guardiola
PEP GUARDIOLA says Manchester United’s ‘noisy neighbours’ jibes have gone quiet recently.
The phrase was coined by former Old Trafford chief Sir Alex Ferguson in 2009 when Manchester City were coming to prominence.
But since then, City have won ten major trophies and were widely recognised as the Team of the Decade.
And Guardiola said United need to think up a new nickname as the two prepare to go head-to-head again tonight.
The City boss said: “I know for the years I was not here we were the noisy neighbours. Now I don’t know who we are.”
Liverpool have established themselves as City’s major rivals for silverware — but Guardiola believes match-ups with United will always be special.
They meet again in the Carabao Cup semi-final, first leg tonight.
And the former Barcelona boss said: “The derbies in Spain were Espanyol and Real Madrid, and here United is a derby.
I know for the years I was not here we were the noisy neighbours. Now I don’t know who we are.”
Pep Guardiola
“Here in England there are many top teams, not just one or two like in other countries.
“That is why the derby for City is important, but there are other top teams who are important too. I know what United means to Man City fans.”
Home advantage has not counted for much when the two teams have met in recent years.
Guardiola has won three of four visits to Old Trafford as City boss but United have emerged victorious from three of five trips to the Etihad.
Guardiola said: “I don’t have a theory. In the game we lost here in the league two seasons ago, we played one of the best first halves we have played.
“We played ten or 15 bad minutes in the second half, they recover.”
Eric Garcia believes City learned important lessons in their shock derby defeat to United last month.
The defender, 18, watched from the stands as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men won 2-1 at the Etihad in December.
But he has been drafted into the team in recent weeks and has a good tactical brain.
City were caught cold by United’s counter-attacking.
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And the Spaniard said: “Recently we’ve been playing teams that really like the counter, especially United.
“We need to be careful with the balls we lose in every single area and try to avoid that and be secure at the back. United are very dangerous on the counter-attack as they have really, really fast players.
“We need to try to avoid that. We need to play like we always play, trying to attack and playing very high.”