The master once again surpassed the apprentice, and there are already seven occasions. With the victory achieved by Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium, Pep Guardiola’s men are not only on points equal to those of Gunners in the qualifying table, but they undermine the morale of an Arsenal that seemed very capable, finally, of breaking the current Premier League champion. It couldn’t be, the skyblues they assaulted the house of the still leader of the English league and the respective coaches were the faithful reflections of their teams in the press appearances after the crash.
Pep Guardiola, the face
Proud?: We are second classified. We had the feeling that we needed something more than what we did in the first half. They were there, we allowed them to play, but in the second half we were able to correct it. Erling (Haaland) helped us a lot. He has been very aggressive to help us in the pressure”.
Performance in the second part: “From the goal, it was just what we wanted. In these types of matches you need to have the ball. We awarded a penalty, which I haven’t seen yet, and a lot happened (penalty disallowed and chances up to Jack Grealish’s goal). It is not easy to play against them, with Martin Ødegaard and the speed of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka”.
Could Ederson have been expelled?: “Could, yes.”
Bernardo Silva: “It has something special. He starts the game as a left back and ends it as a right winger. Simply, he plays soccer, he understands each position because he is very intelligent ”.
Celebration: “We have beaten Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and we have scored more than 50 points in the first round. In football you can lose, but the boys were better against Tottenham. If we had lost here we would be practically out. In the end we have achieved better results than them”.
Erling Haaland: “It has been brilliant. If people expect a hat-trick from him, each game is based on standards. When your standard is 25 goals, people always expect that. We are not going to win the Premier League every year, if you win it is because you deserve it. We were at the game today.”
And Mikel Arteta was the cross
Mistakes: “That’s the frustration. We had the chances to win, but if you concede three goals the way you do, the chances of winning are practically nil. Now it only remains to move on. We knew the importance of the match and we lost it. We had many opportunities. It was a combination of the things we did wrong and what they did well in the second half.”
Would the presence of Thomas Partey have changed the party?: “Don’t know. This is what happened in the match. Your recovery? He will be late ”.
Difference of experience in this type of situation?: “I don’t know if it’s due to lack of experience. It’s part of the game and they’re quality enough to punish your mistakes. We have to get the points, because we had a good performance. Matches are decided in areas. We have to get better at converting the chances we have. This, psychologically, is a marathon. It’s about tomorrow and where we are tomorrow.”