‘You will not forget’ - Pep Guardiola responds to Gary Neville’s claims Man City can be ‘boring’

Pep Guardiola has said people ‘will not forget’ his Manchester City team, in response to Gary Neville’s claims that he feels ‘a bit bored’ with the European champions’ level of dominance.

City are currently on a run of 11 wins in a row and have accrued over 70 percent possession in each of the last four matches, including Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Copenhagen in the Champions League.

Neville said in this week’s Stick to Football podcast that he didn’t watch the midweek game in Denmark and raised the question of whether City’s sheer quality means there is little jeopardy and entertainment in the team’s matches, although he did add that ‘the football they play is outstanding’.

It’s a view that Guardiola finds both irritating and something of a backhanded compliment, and emphasises just how well drilled his players are.

“What can I say? It’s so fine,” said the City boss ahead of the Premier League encounter against Chelsea. “Everything is so difficult in football. You have to do so many things to try to win games during many years.

“What these players have done for many years and this season as well is admirable. Hats off to my players. It’s just unbelievable the way that my players take seriously our opponents. It’s just unbelievable the way they are consistent.

“I had the same opinion before the Copenhagen team. It’s a really difficult team to attack if you are not perfect in many aspects of the game. If we didn’t then we cannot achieve what we did last Tuesday.”

Guardiola’s City have set infinite new records and achievements during his previous seven years in the Premier League and could post another new feat in 2023/24 if they win the title. That would be a fourth consecutive first-place finish, something which has never been done before in English football.

Guardiola is fully aware of the impact and success his team have had and said their legacy will live on long after he has departed.

“Of course we have credit. We are admired, I am pretty sure of that. The people in the world of football know how difficult it is being six or seven years there one week and the other one in all competitions.

“I am going to tell you something, in the future you will not forget. It looks easy, but it’s not. Remember that sentence, it’s easy but it’s not.

“Sometimes [for] people it is not enough what we are doing,” he added. “But I know how difficult it us, from my experience as a manager in the other clubs and when I was a football player - to show that consistency, after winning the treble still we are there and see how we fought for each other. 

“At the end it depends on us, how satisfied we are. That is what belongs to us. If people don’t appreciate it, it doesn't matter. It’s not a big, big problem. 

“I think they do appreciate it honestly, world football, I think they know how difficult it us. We are still here, the important [thing] is to feel still for ourselves, not because of the compliments from outside or the regrets from outside. I think we are happy with what we have done these years and still we are doing, knowing that it will be extremely difficult.”