Guardiola sees ‘bright future’ for Man City

Pep Guardiola saw the dynamism of a new Manchester City team emerge as the result of a wet, miserable Manchester day when his team were positioned in their place by rivals who were on the verge of taking the title.

Guardiola saw enough in his team to be confident for the future while City were swept aside by Premier League leaders Liverpool.

In addition to the key players Erling Haaland and Rodri, who have been with the club for a few weeks, Ruben Dias, who was only allowed to play 13 minutes off the bench as he tries to recover from injury, made up of his team.

Manchester City’s starting xi was 25 years and 68 days, which is their joint-youngest Premier League performance under Guardiola, with the average age of 25.

“I saw a bright future”, he told BBC Sport. “These players are so young.

” Other than Kevin]de Bruyne] and Nathan]Ake], they are the future of this club in the next years, with others who will come in future windows. “

Savinho and Jeremy Doku, a wide duo under the leadership of Guardiola, were namechecked. Phil Foden, an England international, is likely to be a part of that group.

For others, like De Bruyne, central defender John Stones, midfielder Ilkay Gundogan and England winger Jack Grealish, who remained on the bench throughout, the future is less certain.

Andrea Cambiasso has been a subject of numerous City’s interest in the Juventus full-back for a long time, and they have also been linked with Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in Germany recently.

Guardiola said he hoped the Dutchman was correct when asked to respond to the comments made by Liverpool boss Arne Slot after the match, saying that City will face a significant challenge next season. The former Barcelona and Bayern coach is not one for predicting the future.

” I would like that, “he said”. I am aware of our collective accomplishments. Although it’s not enough, I can’t help but think my team did a fantastic job against both Liverpool and Newcastle in the final two Premier League games.

“In Madrid it was not good enough in both games to try to go through but the pace today, the rhythm, the pressing, the solidarity for most of them playing in difficult positions, I approve it and it was really good”.

City’s eighth Premier League defeat of the campaign leaves them 20 points adrift of the champions-elect.

“How many points are they in front of Arsenal”? questioned Guardiola, when asked if City had been beaten by the title winners. “How many games have they lost”?

The answer, 11 and one, told its own story.

For City, the challenge is to claim a place in next season’s Champions League, for which, fifth is likely to be enough.

With 12 games remaining, they are fourth, three points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest – but with a better goal difference, but only five ahead of Fulham, who are 10th.

Although it is a more challenging task than securing a record-breaking fourth consecutive title or winning the historic Treble, which have been their focus as the previous two seasons approach their final weeks, Guardiola is confident that it will provide enough motivation.

“If it doesn’t happen it’s because we were not good enough, not because we had a lack of hunger and desire”, he said.

After telling Guardiola on Saturday that he was not ready to return from the knee injury he sustained at the end of the win over Newcastle, Haaland was forced to watch proceedings from the bench behind the City.

Guardiola admitted he was unsure when Haaland would return, but he downplayed the possibility that the Norwegian’s absence might go on for a while.

“Apparently he’s not injured because the scans dictate that he’s fine”, he said. “But he didn’t feel fine.

Because he trained yesterday and made some excellent movements, he said he was not ready, and we must respect that.