Pep Guardiola couldn’t resist what he saw after Trossard stunned Manchester City in the 90th minute- Pep isn’t taking it lightly as he gave a ‘very brutal’ but honest post-match interview as he angrily slammed his players- He couldn’t believe Arteta’s magic
Pep Guardiola uses one word to sum up Arsenal after Manchester City’s Community Shield loss
Pep Guardiola has used the word ‘extraordinary’ to describe Arsenal after Manchester City were beaten in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.
Guardiola was speaking – in comments reported by The Athletic – after the Cityzens lost out to Mikel Arteta’s side on penalties in the capital after a dramatic end to the 90 minutes.
Cole Palmer had seemingly put City on the brink of securing yet another piece of silverware with a stunning effort just before the final 10 minutes. But Arsenal were able to take the game to penalties.
Guardiola lauds Arsenal after Manchester City loss
Leandro Trossard’s deflected effort found its way across the line in stoppage-time. And Arsenal were able to find the back of the net with each of their spot-kicks to ensure that they struck a psychological blow ahead of the new Premier League season.
Of course, these two sides played out an incredible battle last season. City managed to capitalise on their experience in the latter stages of the campaign to ensure that they got across the line again.
But Pep Guardiola is clearly not taking the Gunners lightly, as he offered the highest praise as he assessed City’s loss on Sunday.
“The team behaved unbelievable,” he said, as reported by The Athletic. “In the second half, there was a lot of attacking players there, we pushed a lot. It’s normal. We are not NBA — (where) you finish (a season) and have three months off. Not here. You have to adapt. That is why I am surprised how good we behaved. We faced an extraordinary team and we were close.”
Obviously, the Community Shield is going to count for little come the end of the campaign. But it does whet the appetite for how the opening stages of the season may play out.
And Arsenal have perhaps shown that they are going to be the side to watch out for in the early stages. They were not always the most impressive in pre-season. But they stepped up on Sunday.
It is going to be fascinating to see if we get a repeat of last year, where Arsenal flew out of the blocks while Manchester City looked to drag them back once they hit their straps.
