MANCHESTER - Pep Guardiola praised Manchester City's successful attitude to beat Everton 2-1, Wednesday, January 1 evening. According to the architect, the other teams will finish in seventh or eighth if they are far behind the leaders of the standings.
A brace scored by Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus in the second half helped City to their first home win of 2020. Before the match, they sat in third place 14 points clear of Liverpool who have one match savings.
Guardiola is pleased with his team's approach as they continue to struggle in the Premier League despite Liverpool's streak.
"We played great. I am very happy with the performance of the boys, behaving as usual, as we always do," Guardiola said at his post-match press conference. Launch Soccerway, Thursday.
Another couple of sweet goals against the ðŽsðĩ #MCIEVE #ManCity pic.twitter.com/yr7cvUGERH
- Manchester City (@ManCity) January 1, 2020
"Being very far from first place after winning for two seasons, the team in a normal situation, in this situation, surrender. And finish seventh or eighth in the standings," continued the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona coach.
Against Carlo Ancelloti's team, Guardiola chose a 3-4-3 formation. Eric Garcia, Fernandinho and Rodri started in defense, with Benjamin Mendy and Joao Cancelo at full-backs.
The former Barcelona boss is delighted with City's execution of a new pattern. He said this could become a regular choice in the following matches.
"Maybe we'll do it again," said Guardiola. "In the first half against Sheffield United, we also played with three defenders. Not only the second half. We changed positions, but the structure is that (formation)."
"We can do it in the future. We played very well. The five players were very good on the ball. Riyad (Mahrez) received the ball in a better position and that also helped."
City will be back in action on Saturday when they host Port Vale in the FA Cup third round.
GABBY NEW YEAR! ððĩ #MCIEVE #ManCity pic.twitter.com/JcrszB0fXr
- Manchester City (@ManCity) January 1, 2020
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