Pep Guardiola claims that this weekend he had to take unusual measures - change his team's game in order to prevent "Liverpool" from playing their preferred style of football.
In the Sunday clash between "Manchester City" and "Liverpool", peace prevailed - the teams separated without any goals. The "Citizens" had a golden opportunity to secure three points, but Riyad Mahrez missed an 11-meter penalty at the end of the match.
Guardiola stated after the match that his team's task was to slow down the pace of the game - not play fast football, which would result in instability transitioning from defense to offense.
"If you choose to play open football at Anfield stadium, you no longer have even the slightest chance of winning," said the Catalan. "We tried to play through Riyad and Bernardo, so that other guys would have somewhere to make an additional pass."
"It was important to stick to the plan because when transitioning from defense to offense, Liverpool is the best team in the world. They are designed for that style of play. In that kind of football, they are far superior to us," Guardiola praised the opponents.
Asked about the team's performance, the strategist was pleased with what he saw on the pitch: "I am very pleased with the work of the guys. They did not allow the opponents to take a single shot on goal.
Recording such statistics at Anfield stadium is incredibly difficult. The players deserve huge praise for what they did. They avoided the most important thing - not losing the ball in dangerous areas, as the opponents' front line is always ready. That was another reason why we wanted to control the ball and not get caught up in their game."
After eight rounds, there is a complete tie in the leader position of the Premier League - "Man City", "Liverpool", and "Chelsea" all have 20 points.
