It never rains but it pours for Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
As images go, it felt entirely appropriate for the occasion. The rain pouring onto Pep Guardiola‘s bald head and streaming down his face as he stood forlornly on the touchline at Old Trafford.
The Manchester City manager had finished the first half fidgeting with an over-sized black scarf, taking it on and off. Now, at the final whistle, it was wrapped around his neck, sodden and offering scant protection from the elements.
Guardiola hasn’t endured too many days like this one, certainly not since a difficult first season in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s cold and miserable look summed up Manchester Ctiy’s Sunday
The Premier League champions were no match for their rivals United at Old Trafford
But it felt as though City’s problems in his fourth year at the Etihad conspired as one against him here. As if it wasn’t just a Manchester shower tumbling on his shoulders.
It seems a strange thing to say when Guardiola’s team could still finish the season with another hat-trick of trophies if they can retain the FA Cup on top of the Carabao Cup, and build on a first-leg lead over Real Madrid to challenge for the Champions League as well.
But Guardiola clearly has work to do in the summer to reinvigorate City for what is expected to be his final season at the Etihad.
Liverpool’s march to the title may have been imperious but City’s defence has fallen apart. This was their seventh defeat – one more than in back-to-back title-winning campaigns.
It’s no secret that Guardiola needs to sort out a defence that has struggled to replace the departed Vincent Kompany and injured Aymeric Laporte.
United secured a league double over their rivals with a 2-0 win, continuing their top form
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrates as United wrap up the 2-0 victory over their local rivals
In midfield, they continue to lack a creative spark without Kevin de Bruyne, who was missing with a shoulder injury.
They will also lose David Silva in the summer. The young man earmarked to replace him, Phil Foden, started on Sunday but could not reproduce his Wembley performance from the Carabao Cup final a week earlier.
In attack, City have lacked the same clinical, cutting edge this season. They rarely looked like opening up Manchester United as they suffered a third derby defeat in three months. Indeed, Sergio Aguero’s main continuation was to lose Anthony Martial in the build-up to the first goal.
There were other, unexpected factors for City here though; like the blundering performance of Ederson and an ineffective showing from Raheem Sterling who was eclipsed by the outstanding Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Credit to Guardiola for trying to protect his goalkeeper afterwards, just as he refused to make a big deal of the contentious free kick awarded by referee Mike Dean for United’s first goal.
City could still end the season with a treble, but the Premier League highlights their struggles
He described Ederson as ‘exceptional’ and ‘extraordinary’, two words that didn’t spring to mind when he let in Martial’s volley and then presented Scott McTominay with the chance to score in an unguarded goal.
‘I don’t come to judge my players,’ said the City boss. ‘Mistakes are part of the game – he will recover.’
It was left to Bernardo Silva to deliver the harsh criticism of City’s performance.
‘It was a bad game for us, not acceptable,’ said Bernardo.
‘We will have to watch the game back and listen to what Pep has to say. But a team like ours cannot lose this many games. We need to check what’s not going right and try not to make so many mistakes.
‘We know how good the Manchester United players are on the counter-attack, very aggressive. So our performance was not acceptable.’
Informed of Bernardo’s comments, Guardiola still did his best to strike a positive tone.
‘Unacceptable? I do not agree with him,’ replied the City boss.
Guardiola and his City stars show their dejection as they walk off the pitch on Sunday
‘When our opponent (Liverpool) is far away it is too much. They won all the games except one defeat and one draw. We are second. We are better than 17 other teams.
‘I accept the situations like they are. The points we have and the distance I accept it. Something happens, first because the opponent is so good. In general, I am satisfied.
‘We are not far away. At the end of the season with the club we are going to talk about the situation.’
Having resisted the opportunity on Friday to back up Jurgen Klopp’s complaints that United are a negative team over-reliant on the counter-attack, Guardiola’s frustration was evident as he reflected on this defeat.
‘It is not easy to attack seven or eight players in defence. It’s difficult, they don’t move. They counter-attack really well.
‘Our game is there, we played really good in terms of coming here. They played long balls on the counter-attack for Daniel James and Anthony Martial. They waited for our mistakes.’
