Pep Guardiola: I agree with Jose Mourinho, you can’t buy class
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola claims he agrees with Manchester United counterpart Jose Mourinho that the club “cannot buy class”.
Mourinho made some pointed references towards City when asked about the new fly-on-the-wall documentary about the Premier League champions that was released by Amazon earlier this week.
The United manager also said “you don’t need to be disrespectful to have a fantastic movie” when asked to give his thoughts on the programme.
Mourinho was presumably referring to some of the coverage of both himself and United in the eight-part series.
Guardiola, however, insists that ‘buying class’ is not something City were attempting to do in the project.
Speaking after his side’s 6-1 thrashing of Huddersfield yesterday, Guardiola said: “That is true, you cannot buy class. I agree with Jose. We cannot buy class.
“I think we lived an amazing season with cameras. We did it for ourselves. I don’t agree with Jose in terms of disrespectful. This was not our intention - it was filming last season.”
“It is a club trying to grow, trying to win titles. We did it for ourselves and our fans to see what happens inside the locker room. It is Jose’s opinion. Other guys will say, ‘We like’ and other guys will say, ‘No’.”
City were devastating as they put Huddersfield to the sword at the Etihad Stadium. Sergio Aguero scored his 13th hat-trick for the club, while Gabriel Jesus and the inspirational David Silva also got on the scoresheet. The sixth goal was an own goal by Terence Kongolo.
Guardiola said: “Today was much better in terms of football and consistency during 90 minutes.
“Against Chelsea and Arsenal we survived more than playing good. Today, attacking 10 players in the box, I think we did it quite well.”
Guardiola feels Aguero is back to his best after missing the end of last season following knee surgery.
He said: “He feels perfect now. It is not just scoring goals - the spaces to create chances, movements, assists, make passes - he never stops.
“When this happens Sergio is one of the best, best, best strikers in the world.”
The game was also poignant for Silva, who was photographed with baby son Mateo before the game. Silva was given time off for personal reasons after the child’s premature birth last season.
Guardiola said: “He will never forget the first time his son saw him play football. Last season was a tough moment for his family. It was a special day for them and us.”
Huddersfield’s loss was their second of the campaign after a 3-0 defeat by Chelsea.
Manager David Wagner said: “Obviously it was a disappointing result, even though it was because of the top quality City have shown.
“We will not get driven away by these defeats. We hoped for more, we didn’t get more, but now the season starts for us. The experience of last season, where we conceded heavy defeats to the top-six sides will help us.”
Ederson, Stones, Kompany, Laporte, Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva, Silva (Mahrez 64), Gundogan (Foden 82), Mendy, Aguero (Sane 76), Gabriel Jesus.
Hamer, Smith, Schindler, Kongolo, Lowe, Pritchard (Diakhaby 61), Stankovic, Billing, Hadergjonaj, Sabiri (Depoitre 46), Mounie (Sobhi 84).
Andre Marriner.
