Man City have to be 'cold-minded' vs United, insists Pep Guardiola

Manchester City have to be ‘cold-minded’ against bitter rivals United, insists Pep Guardiola as he calls for his side to atone for ‘boring and scared’ display in last season’s 0-0 stalemate

  • Manchester City travel to bitter rivals Manchester United on Saturday afternoon
  • United are unbeaten in their last four Premier League derbies against City
  • The duo played out a dry 0-0 stalemate at Old Trafford in last season’s fixture

Pep Guardiola has called for ‘cold minds’ as he implores his Manchester City team to remove emotion from Saturday’s derby.

Manchester United, unbeaten in their last four Premier League meetings with City, can go level on points with their crosstown rivals should they come out on top.

Guardiola has turned away from any noise surrounding the fixture this week as he hunts for the sixth victory of his tenure at Old Trafford.

Pep Guardiola has called for Manchester City to have ‘cold’ minds against United on Saturday

Guardiola described last season’s fixture at Old Trafford as ‘boring’ with both teams ‘scared’

‘I don’t feel it, I wake up in the morning and come here to this bubble in this training centre and I’m here for 10, 12 or 14 hours,’ Guardiola said.

‘After that I go home. I’m not going to the restaurants, the pubs to drink a beer and know the atmosphere. I can imagine how important it is for both sides – that’s normal, that’s why football is nice – but I have to be cold in my mind, cold in my head to do exactly what we have to do.

‘We did good games against them – one game when we drew (last season) was a bit boring when the teams were a bit scared. They went into the Europa League and we were not in good moment.

‘We’ve make good games in the Carabao Cup against them and even at home we were ourselves but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.’

Guardiola, who revealed that injury concern Kyle Walker is still being assessed by club medics after coming off in midweek, was in terse mood ahead of the derby.

Guardiola says he hasn’t been drawn into the atmosphere within the city ahead of the derby 

He briefly maintained that City are wary of the threat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side pose going forward, while batting away questions on his side’s lack of a frontline striker.

‘They are so good up front and now with Cristiano Ronaldo they are better,’ he added. ‘I’m not a magician to know what will happen this season. First I would tell my team to relax but trust and be confident.

‘Look at how many we scored last season without Sergio (Aguero). Maybe in the future we will sign a No 9 who then doesn’t score goals, who knows? We are who we are. I’ve spoken many times about this. We wanted to and couldn’t do it.

‘When you don’t score be calm, be calm when you score. I know it can be perfect then three days later it can be a disaster. Either we don’t need a striker or we have to buy seven. Be calm.’ 

Guardiola is wary of the threat Cristiano Ronaldo poses to his City defence ahead of the derby




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