Manchester Derby: Guardiola Says He Has “Ridiculous” Plans For United

The manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, claims to have a “ridiculous” plan to defeat Manchester United in the Manchester derby on Saturday.

Since taking over from Manuel Pellegrini in 2016, Guardiola has lost six of the 17 matches against United.

In each of his six seasons as manager of City, the Spaniard has finished ahead of the Red Devils.

He has faced four different United managers over that time, with Erik ten Hag being the most recent. In a 6-3 triumph at Etihad Stadium in October, Guardiola completed his victories over all the managers.

Nevertheless, United has only lost seven points in their previous ten Premier League contests and has won four straight games, which is their best streak since March 2021.

In light of this, Guardiola will choose a cautious City squad to play Southampton in the EFL Cup on Wednesday to have a fresher squad for the derby this weekend.

“I would like to arrive against United with the average of minutes in the legs of the players quite similar because I have a few ideas, thoughts, ridiculous ones against United,” Pep Guardiola said.

Several theories are raised when the idea of Guardiola coming up with anything “wild,” and if they are put into action, they support the idea that he overthinks key crucial matches, sometimes to the harm of his team.

The most obvious instance occurred in the 2020 Champions League quarterfinal, where City was widely expected to upset Lyon in a unique encounter, only to lose after Guardiola switched his formation to a 3-5-2 to slow down a club that had defeated the Blues earlier in the season.

Guardiola was asked about it before City’s first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal encounter against Atletico Madrid, which they ultimately won.

At the time, the response was sarcastic, he was quoted as saying: “I tend to overthink a lot. I adore overthinking things and coming up with stupid plans. I’m going to come up with an idea tonight and do some incredible stunts. The game is played with the number 12.”

Guardiola did not elaborate on his preparations for Saturday’s match against United despite observing that his players were worn out during practice following last week’s Premier League success against Chelsea.

He simply noted: “I don’t have a clear line-up against United. I didn’t watch their last games. I have to see the way they play at home and if they change something.”

First-placed Arsenal are four points above second-placed Manchester City on the Premier League table heading into the Manchester derby which will kick off at Old Trafford at 13:30 on January 14.