Pep Guardiola has said he and José Mourinho are like “twins” because of their obsession with winning.
Manchester City travel to Old Trafford for Sunday’s derby holding an eight-point lead over their rivals and as he prepared for the game Guardiola agreed that he and Mourinho have a similar will to win. “Definitely, in that we are twins,” he said. “They want to win trophies, we want to win trophies. I think Antonio Conte is the same as well and Jürgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino and in all the leagues around the world.”
Mourinho has been criticised for being negative yet Guardiola said: “I never criticise my colleagues for the way they play. I never did in the past, I will never do it. Football is magnificent for that, because every manager plays in the way they play. There are different ways to enjoy football. It’s simple like that.”
City beat United 2-1 in last season’s corresponding fixture but Guardiola, who confirmed David Silva will be fit following a minor problem, warned his players they will have to win their personal battles to have a chance of repeating that feat.
“The big challenge is to play good, to try to control the start point,” he said. “It’s hard, because it’s United at Old Trafford. We want to try to play our game. The focus is going there relaxed and knowing that if we don’t win the individual duels, it will be almost impossible to beat them.
“We will try to play well, to play good football, what we have done, to be what we are. So I would like to finish the game and go to the locker room and feel we were what we have been for the season. As for the result, nobody knows what is going to happen. We will try to find the best way to play well and to win the game.
“Winning, drawing or losing on Sunday, we are not going to win or lose the Premier League. It’s December. It’s an important game, because it’s United. You can get points and deny your opponent points. But it’s the same for them. We just focus on what we have to do to make a good performance and try to win the game.
“That is all I am concerned about. I am not going into the game thinking: ‘OK, we have an eight-point lead.’ The Premier League is a marathon. We haven’t even arrived at the halfway stage yet. There are a lot of points to play for, more than 70 [69, in fact]. We just focus on the game, and the result, and then after, recovery and then thinking about Swansea three days later. It’s simple like that. It’s about going there and doing our game. That is what I want to see from my players.”
Fabian Delph and Vincent Kompany missed Wednesday’s defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk because of illness and a lack of match fitness respectively and both remain doubts for Sunday’s game. “Fabian Delph was sick. He had vomited and then there was fever the day before,” said Guardiola. “That was the reason why he could not play. Kompany knows his body better than anyone and he felt something and couldn’t play in Donetsk. Tomorrow we will know if he [and Delph] are able to play [against United].”