Guardiola reveals what Newcastle are "miles better" at than Man City in post-match rant
Not for the first time in recent years, Pep Guardiola has namechecked Newcastle United when speaking to the media about his Man City side.
The Spaniard has previously hailed Eddie Howe, a number of our star players and our growth since new owners arrived, but he's now discussed a part of our game that his City side are unable to match.
This comes as Guardiola battles through his toughest spell in charge of City, who are 12 points behind Liverpool in the title race and facing a play-off clash with Real Madrid or Bayer Munich after finishing 22nd in a Champions League table of 36 clubs.
Guardiola reveals where City can't compete with Newcastle
Speaking after last night's 3-1 win over Club Brugge in the Champions League, an honest and open Pep Guardiola used Newcastle as an example of a team who are "miles better" than his Man City side in transition.
Newcastle travel to the Etihad in our next Premier League away game and will be aware of just how easily Brugge were able to break clear on the counter last night.
Pep admitted that his City side are an "old team", mentioning their ageing midfielders as a reason he is a "little bit scared to play these transitional games" that saw them risk an early exit from the Champions League last night.
“I would love to not concede the counter-attack, to have more control, but for the absences that we have, we are an old team,” Pep said.
“Kevin (De Bruyne) is 34 (in June), (Ilkay) Gundogan 34, Mateo (Kovacic) is the same (turning 31 in May). We don’t have replacements so they played a lot of minutes. That’s why we are so grateful for what Gundogan has done, and Kovacic and Kevin to come back as soon as possible.
“That’s why I’m a little bit scared to play these transitional games against Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton – they are miles better than us.”
Newcastle's monstrous midfield
While Man City's XI may trump ours from a technical perspective, it's fair to say Howe has built a team full of pace, power and athleticism.
One area that stands out from a physical and technical point of view is our midfield, where we have a monstrous mix of work rate, intensity and quality in Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.
Pep will prepare his team to guard against counter attacks when we travel to the Etihad two weeks on Saturday, but it's clear that we could get joy on the counter if our midfield trio can win their battles and release the likes of Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.
