Pep Guardiola has hit back at Gary Neville being too bored to watch Manchester City in the Champions League this week and insisted his Treble-winning side will never be forgotten in history.
Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast that he did not watch City’s win against FC Copenhagen, adding: “You can’t watch City; it’s like they ruined it a bit.”
However, Guardiola shrugged off Neville’s comments and said the world-wide football community knew how difficult it would be for City to dominate the Premier League and become European champions.
“Thank you for the compliment,” Guardiola said. “Everything is very difficult in football. You have to do a lot of things over the years to try to win games. What these players have done over the years and this season is admirable.
“The way my players take our opponents seriously is incredible. It’s truly amazing how consistent they are. I had the same thought before the Copenhagen team. “They’re a really difficult team to attack unless you’re excellent in many aspects of the game.”
Does Gary Neville have a point? What our writers think
The way they play always makes the game interesting
You know what you’re getting with Manchester City, but that doesn’t make them boring. Just trying to figure out what positions the players are in makes it interesting. John Stones was as high as number 10 against Copenhagen. I also get the feeling that I should take every opportunity to watch Erling Haaland.
It’s not City that’s boring, it’s Neville on loan
Gary Neville is boring, not Manchester City. Neville was once a brilliant expert with his analysis and strong opinions but he began to outbid everything going forward. Maybe he’ll be a more interesting DJ when he plays some tunes at the Kendall Calling music festival this summer. His taste in music is certainly better than his opinion of the Premier League champions. City can be accused of many things, but being boring is not one of them. Apart from beating the team you support, they are a joy to watch.
Neville’s rude comments reek of jealousy and attention seeking
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson: When a man gets tired of football, he gets tired of life. Gary Neville’s “boring” criticism of Manchester City’s style of play sounds like one of three things: 1) attention seeking 2) jealousy 3) a fundamental lack of appreciation.
Maybe it’s all three, because it would be rude to say that Pep Guardiola’s city has “slightly ruined” football. Neville has achieved so much in his own acting career, but his thoughts? They are more questionable. Guardiola has raised the game in this country. Every successful coach wants to copy him. But maybe Neville, who hasn’t had much success at Valencia or England, knows better. Or maybe he’s tired of football.
It’s up to other teams to stop City’s dominance
Gary Neville’s memory is failing. Just as their rivals in the late 1970s and 1980s found Liverpool ‘boring’ for winning so much, neutrals thought Manchester United’s dominance in the 1990s was ‘boring’. When the same team keeps winning, especially one with City’s financial advantages, predictability risks monotony. What Neville is right about is that City have a scientific style of possession; The team has cleverly created a structure to eliminate the feeling that they are in defensive danger.
City fans are excited to attend fixtures where only one team can complete a sequence of passes. For everyone, a match between two competitive teams is obviously more attractive. But as City continue to reap the rewards, the onus is on everyone else to stop whining and do what they can, on and off the pitch, to get the ball back.
Guardiola’s Barcelona was fun to watch, but I found the city very mechanical.
A confession: As a teenager, I became obsessed with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. So much so that for my 18th birthday my father bought us two tickets to the match at the Camp Nou. Everything about that trip and that team was great for me. Frankly, this team played a big part in why I chose to pursue a career in football journalism.
After all these years, I don’t feel the same way about Guardiola’s Manchester City. The Barcelona team was magical, whereas City often seems mechanical to me. They are so efficient, so well trained and so good that a lot of the fun is missed. There is rarely any danger in his games.
Of course, I don’t find all the actors boring. There are few sights more exciting than Kevin De Bruyne scoring a goal or Erling Haaland destroying a Premier League defence. But I found that I enjoyed watching City’s highlights much more than watching all 90 minutes.