“We are in a difficult situation”: Pep bemoans major concern before blockbuster derby vs Carrick’s United

Manchester United welcome Manchester City to Old Trafford for the second Mancunian derby of the season this lunchtime.

The Red Devils will be hoping to begin the Michael Carrick era in the best possible way by securing their first home win over City since 2023.

City boss Pep Guardiola was speaking to the press before the match, and this is what he had to say.

Injury updates

The Catalan was asked about his squad’s injury status before the game and he confirmed, “Nico Gonzalez we will see this afternoon, after training. No Occar Bobb or John Stones. When he finishes the third game he Omar Marmoush will be back.”

Elaborating on his team’s defensive concerns, he explained, “without John, without Ruben Dias, without Josko Gvardiol we are in a difficult situation for a long period. Ruben will be back soon, John hopefully we will see.”

Michael Carrick

Carrick will be the fifth Manchester United manager Guardiola has faced in the Manchester derby, and he gave his thoughts on what his preparations will be like.

Commenting on Carrick, he claimed, “if you don’t have more info of the opponent, you focus on yourself and the players. You can have some ideas of what Middlesbrough has done or when Michael was in his part as a manager at Man United but tactics is about the players and the players tomorrow are different to the Middlesbrough ones.”

He also added, “I don’t have a timeout after 10 minutes to tell them what Michael wants to do. When you don’t have info it’s better to focus on yourself. The game we played against Chelsea recently with their new manager, the first half was completely different to how they played in the second half. That’s why you have to focus on yourself.”

The former FC Barcelona manager also had some kind words for the United manager, claiming, “I would say central defender and holding midfielder they have a more global vision than a winger. I’m not saying a winger cannot perfectly read the winger but Michael as a player was extraordinary.”

Five at the back

Ruben Amorim was often criticised in the media and by fans for sticking to a five-at-the-back formation.

Guardiola was asked to give his opinion on the formation change and he retorted, “When you play with five at the back and it doesn’t work, and when you play with four and it doesn’t work you have to play with five. With four you can play extraordinary well and with five you can play extraordinarily well. If you changed it and it was fine then everyone would be a manager. It would be easy. It’s not like that. The players look best when the team works well and they don’t look the best when it doesn’t work well.”

The match will kick off at 12.30 GMT later today in what promises to be a raucous atmosphere.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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