Pep Guardiola 'goes into the devil's den'

(Baonghean.vn) - With a humiliating 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford, Mourinho and his team could not stop Pep Guardiola's Manchester City from equaling Arsenal's record of 14 consecutive wins in the Premier League..

For a long time, people have been looking for the person who can stop Mourinho from completing Manchester United's 41-match unbeaten record at Old Trafford, and that is Pep Guardiola. Interestingly and coincidentally, Manchester City were the last team to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford, also by a score of 2-1, in September 2016.

Predestined

Even though coach Pep Guardiola provoked him: "I'd rather quit my job than play defensive tactics like parking the bus in front of the goal", Mourinho still couldn't stop him from playing defensively at Old Trafford. Mourinho even asked striker Romelu Lukaku to retreat close to his own goal to join the defense.

The Red Devils took to the field with a 4-2-3-1 formation, but the difference this time was that Mourinho sent both Rashford and Martial, players with high speed, onto the field to play counter-attacks. This was considered a realistic plan to try to get 1 point for the Portuguese coach.

Jose Mourinho suffered his ninth defeat against Pep Guardiola. Photo: Internet

Although in the history of 175 Manchester derbies, MU won 72 matches, lost 50 and drew 53 matches, in recent years, MU lost more than won. In the Manchester derby at Old Trafford last season, Man City excellently defeated the Red Devils 2-1 thanks to goals from De Bruyne and Iheanacho.

Against the high-performance Man City, MU advocates a large defense, when winning the ball, they will pass long to 4 players Martial, Lingard, Rashford, Lukaku who are capable of dribbling at high speed. Mourinho will use many long, high passes and take advantage of free kicks to score goals.

It is a bit surprising that Mourinho asked Lukaku to drop deep to defend, considering that the striker was at fault for the goal against Arsenal last week. Striker Lukaku is big and strong, good in the air but plays quite clumsily. His dropping deep does not help the defense much and also reduces the pressure on the opponent's defenders.

Lukaku was at fault for two goals conceded by Manchester United. Lukaku lost to Nicolas Otamendi when he jumped for the ball, the ball went to David Silva to score the first goal for Manchester City. Then, Lukaku cleared the ball carelessly, the ball hit Chris Smalling and bounced to Otamendi to score the winning goal for Manchester City.

Poor defense and even worse finishing, Lukaku failed to beat goalkeeper Ederson Moraes from his close-range shot in the 85th minute. The entire MU team played badly but Lukaku was the worst player in the whole match, in the last 14 matches he only had 2 goals for himself.

The guest is too strong.

If Paul Pogba had been in this match, Manchester United might not have been too outplayed but it would have been difficult to get 3 points. With a squad of players with the best individual skills in Europe, Manchester City had 65% possession, constantly pressuring the MU players. Guardiola used Mourinho's strengths to control the Red Devils.

First is counter-attacks, Manchester City's counter-attacks are always faster and more dangerous thanks to a midfield of De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva with outstanding creativity. The away players of Manchester City often "commit tactical fouls" every time they lose the ball to destroy the counter-attack, causing frustration for the opponent.

Lukaku is losing his form miserably. Photo: Internet

The three strikers Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Sane often played like teasing the visitors' defense. The two creative midfielders David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne made the two central midfielders Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera look like clowns at Old Trafford.

The fact that the Man City players pressed the entire field, not giving the Red Devils any space made the long passes lack precision and surprise. The goal was simply a moment of distraction from left-back Fabian Delph, allowing Marcus Rashford to sneak down and score.

On the coaching bench, Jose Mourinho had his 9th defeat when facing Pep Guardiola, no coach has made him lose as much.

What worries MU fans is that Manchester City players always appear stronger and more physically fit in one-on-one battles. Looking at players like Lukaku, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial… one cannot see the fire in them like their seniors Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, David Beckham.

14 consecutive wins, just need to win against the second-to-last team Swansea in the middle of this week, Manchester City will officially surpass Arsenal, setting a new record. If playing like this, Man City can also repeat the achievement of going unbeaten for the entire season like Arsenal (2003-2004 season).

AT