Guardiola slams pundits lacking “respect” after record-breaking Man City win

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has accused pundits of lacking respect following their record 8-0 Premier League win over Watford.

The defending champions, who a week ago suffered their first loss of the season, had raced into a 5-0 half-time lead before adding three more in the last 45 minutes.

Why was Guardiola unhappy with pundits? Five things to know…

• Manchester City endured their first defeat of the season against Norwich City last season.
• The defending champions were met with heavy criticism as they fell five points behind Liverpool.
• City bounced back with an 8-0 crushing of Watford on Saturday.
• And Pep Guardiola believes pundits lacked respect in their analysis after the defeat.
• The Spaniard reiterated that everyone loses games, and praise his side for their repsonse.

Bernardo Silva finished the game with a hat-trick whilst five other players — David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Nicolas Otamdeni and Kevin De Bruyne — also found themselves on the scoresheet.

This result, which is City’s biggest ever win in England’s top-flight, fell one goal shy of Manchester United’s record which came against Ipswich Town on March 4, 1995 — a 9-0 victory that saw Andy Cole score five times.

It also equalled Guardiola’s biggest league win as a manager; he’s managed three 8-0 wins before: against Almeria (November 2010), Osasuna (September 2011) and Hamburg (February 2015).

Following the game Guardiola felt it was an opportune time to get a few things off his chest, notably the coverage of his side lately which he deemed to be unfair as football is a results business and City have been productive since the Spaniard arrived.

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“All we can do is be ourselves and we were ourselves. Pundits, former players, they were there and they lose games and they make mistakes and say without respect for all players out there doing the best,” he said

“We are judged for the result, not the performance. Our performance in the last 400 days was incredible.”

That was some birthday party! 🎉

🔵 8-0 🐝 #MCIWAT #ManCity pic.twitter.com/Nn2O9L47NH

— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 21, 2019

“It can happen you lose one game. If you analyse what these guys have done in the last two seasons, it is your problem, not mine,” he added.

“Norwich we concede four shots on target and we have 15 or 20. The reaction against Shakhtar and today [was brilliant].

“Maybe you believe the team cannot lose games… everyone can lose games. They are human beings and make mistakes. What we have to do is play the way we have played these two seasons.

“The team ahead of us is one of the best teams I have seen in my football career as player and manager. They can do absolutely everything. In the last 18 months they lost one game in the Premier League.”

Guardiola defends Man City rout

Naturally after such a heavy win there are often accusations of the victor showing disregard for their fallen victim but that wasn’t something Guardiola was going to entertain. As far as he’s concerned not continuing to go for the jugular and easing off would have been more disrespectful to Watford.

“The best way is to humiliate the players is to do the second half stupid things and play for themselves, make some fashion movements and that is the worst way to do that,” he said.

“We play for the spectators, who come here to watch the game. I would not like to see my team in the second half play just how just… not run much because we are winning 5-0. That is a lack of respect for our opponents.”