“Thank You for the Compliment!” – Pep Guardiola Defends ‘Boring’ Manchester City After Gary Neville’s Jibe

Manchester City winning games nonchalantly has not been a surprise. However, Pep Guardiola‘s take on his team’s performance gets interesting each time. The Spaniard has replied to Gary Neville for the 2nd time in three months, each time with its own flavor. Pep earlier called out Neville, saying he “would’ve won four Premier Leagues in the best period of Manchester United. But he didn’t do it.” But now, the master tactician comes back with a contrasting response, saying, ‘Thank you for the compliment”, to the pundit in a recent press conference.

The old game of ‘respect me and I will respect you’ never seems to end in soccer. Gary Neville, after the game against Copenhagen, called Pep Guardiola a boring manager and revealed that he did not watch the game. However, the jibe sounded more like a compliment to the Cityzens coach, who went on to say, “Thank you for the compliment!”.

He continued, “What can I say? So everything is so difficult in football, so difficult. We have to do many things to try to win games and games during many many years. So it’s what this group of players have done for many years.” Manchester City’s manager further chose to credit his players for the results.

Pep Guardiola acknowledged the consistency of the team, which managed to keep winning despite struggles. The manager lost both key players, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, to injuries for a significant period. But still, the rest of the squad rose to the occasion and pulled them from #5 in the EPL table to #2. Anyhow, Pep felt his team has had this winning mentality for years.

Pep Guardiola lauds his team’s performance against Copenhagen

Even though Manchester City won 3-1, the score line doesn’t reveal the bigger picture. Pep Guardiola said that FC Copenhagen was more than a formidable side to win against. He praised his men further, saying, “A really incredible, difficult to attack. Really one! If you are not perfect in many many things or really, really good in many many aspects of the game, we cannot achieve what we did and achieved.” The same Copenhagen team won against Gary Neville’s former club Manchester United in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League this season.

READ MORE – After Everton Brace, Pep Guardiola Makes ‘Tiring’ Erling Haaland Admission

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola is not reputed for getting overconfident. Despite backing the players, he always insists that the sport is tough and they need to keep working hard to stay where they are. The club will take on Chelsea today in an all-important clash that can take them to the top of the table. They will meet a certain familiar face of Cole Palmer, who intends to show Pep what he’s missing.

But whether Pep will be able to keep up with his reputation this season, is still to be seen.

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