'I’m not good enough' - Pep Guardiola takes blame after Manchester derby defeat
AMAD Diallo enjoyed 115 seconds of pure, schoolboy football fantasy to settle an otherwise forgettable Manchester derby and guarantee that he will be remembered, and revered, by United supporters for generations to come.
It appeared that a dismal showing between two fallen giants was heading for a much-needed victory for Pep Guardiola and City, thanks to Josko Gvardiol’s first half goal for the home side.
But as he had 40 days ago in Lisbon, when his Sporting team hammered Guardiola 4-1 in their Champions League meeting, Ruben Amorim was about to enjoy a spectacular success against the preeminent coach in the world today.
“What do we have to do? Keep working but I’m the boss, the manager and I’m not good enough,” said Guardiola. “It’s as simple as that.
“I have to find a way to talk to them, train them, the way they have to play, the way they have to press and build up and I’m not good enough. I’m not doing well. That’s the truth.
“If always it’s the same problem, it can be fixed. You say ‘ Ah, it’s that player.’ It can be fixed: he doesn’t play! But it’s not that.
“I’m incredibly well paid to handle these situations to handle the press conference, accept all the criticism but I want to be honest. In one or two seasons, over a year and a year and a half we were able to lose (only) eight games.
“Now in one month and ten days we were top of the league and the only unbeaten team in Europe and in one month and ten days, we lost eight games.
“This is a big club and the club of course cannot accept it. I am sitting here in this press conference because of what I have done in the past; otherwise in big clubs they don’t sustain a manager that way."
The defeat left City with just one win from their last 11 games, eight of which have ended in defeats, including this disaster and the humiliating 4-0 home loss to Tottenham. Yesterday, as after the Spurs defeat, there were notable boos from home supporters as a disbelieving Guardiola left the field.
The drama started in the 88th minute when Matheus Nunes, who had diced with disaster in an already worryingly weak display, gave the ball away needlessly to Diallo, who headed towards the City goal.
He appeared to have been pushed wide, and out of danger, by keeper Ederson, but Nunes sprinted back and body checked the young United winger to the ground, presenting Bruno Fernandes with a penalty which the United skipper gleefully converted.
Then, in the final minute of normal time, further calamity for City’s defence came with Lisandro Martinez’s long ball splitting defenders and catching Ederson uncertain whether or not to come for the ball. Diallo took a skilful touch to take the ball around the flapping keeper and volleyed it over the line in extraordinary fashion.
It was the sort of two-minute spell that has made reputations, launched careers in English football, although Amorim was sensibly urging caution where the 22-year-old Ivorian was concerned.
“Amad, of course, is in a great moment, but I will say it again; Erik (ten Hag) brought him to the first team, Ruud (van Nistelrooy) did a great job and we continued,” said Amorim.
“And Amad did a great job, but now let's be careful with Amad. Don't do the same mistakes that we did in the past with the younger guys and let's push him down a little bit.”
He might, of course, have been using Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, left out of the match day squad for the Etihad, as cautionary tales.
It was a dramatic conclusion to a derby that summed up the malaise that both clubs are currently suffering but one that saw City take the lead on 36 minutes in a suitably scrappy fashion.
A short corner between Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan was worked well enough but the former’s cross needed a fortunate deflection off Amad Diallo, as he attempted to tackle, to find the right trajectory to reach Gvardiol.
The ball looped over Rasmus Hojlund and Diogo Dalot for Gvardiol to rise impressively and guide a superb headed finish past Andre Onana.
It was the Croatian defender’s fourth league goal of the season, making him City’s second leading scorer behind Erling Haaland, a statistic which tells its own story about his team’s problems.
But if City’s are bad, United’s seemed to be so much worse, and compounded by Amorim’s pre-match decision to leave Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of the match day squad, dropped for either poor form or poor attitude or a combination of the two.
At least, with this still being a Manchester derby, there was some desire from supporters, and occasionally the players, to lift the tempo and atmosphere of what was an increasingly disappointing occasion.
Just after the goal, for example, Kyle Walker fouled Rasmus Hojlund then embarrassingly flung himself to the ground when the pair did no more than touch foreheads as the United man objected.
Players from both sides jostled for a few seconds before the two combatants were booked but even that “flashpoint” was a pale imitation of years gone by between these two fallen giants.
Phil Foden remained lively and came close before the break but the fact that neither Haaland nor Hojlund had touched the ball in the opposition area in the first half told the story of a game low on quality and chances.
United had also been unsettled by the early loss of Mason Mount, who went down injured after only recently returning to the line-up, the latest in a long list of problems for the former England midfielder.
It took until the 62nd minute for United to force Ederson into his first save of the half, indeed the match, when Diallo met Fernandes’s cross and his header was turned away by the keeper.
There was also a strong United claim for a penalty after Hojlund went down, under contact from Ruben Dias, but referee Anthony Taylor and VAR viewed there was no case to answer.
Still, the greatest chance yet of an equaliser fell to Fernandes after 74 minutes and a defence-splitting through ball from Hojlund. With only Ederson to beat, United’s skipper could only left the ball over the advancing keeper and wide of the left-hand post. It was a miss for which he would be allowed to make amends, thanks to Diallo.
Ederson 5; Walker 5, Dias 5, Gvardiol 7, Nunes 4; Gundogan 7 (Savinho 88); Silva 6, De Bruyne 6 (Kovacic 67, 5), Foden 6, Doku 5 (Grealish 76, 5); Haaland 5. Substitutes (not used) McAtee, Muamba, O’Reilly, Ortega, Simpson-Pusey.
Onana 6; de Ligt 6 (Yoro 78, 5), Maguire 7, Martinez 7; Mazrouai 6 (Antony 78, 5), Ugarte 6, Fernandes 7, Dalot 5; Diallo 9, Hojlund 6 (Zirkzee 78, 5), Mount 5 (Mainoo 13, 5). Substitutes (not used) Bayindir, Casemiro, Eriksen, Malacia, Lindelof.
A Taylor 7
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