Pep Guardiola has boldly claimed that he would only aim for a goalless draw if his team were performing poorly, and that his Manchester City team kill off games because they are destined to win. As Arsenal prepares to challenge their title ambitions at the stadium that has seen four consecutive Premier League trophy wins, Guardiola is gearing up for another tough battle. Last season, Mikel Arteta 's squad believed they had gained an advantage when they barely left their own half at the Etihad in late March and returned to London with a point, still ahead of City in the league table.
However, nine straight victories propelled Guardiola's team to the top. Despite Guardiola's insistence on being a pragmatist, it seems his interpretation of the term involves aggressive tactics rather than defensive ones. When asked about the ideal pragmatic performance, the City boss said: "For 95 minutes, the opponent has to defend in their box.
This is what I want. Do you know why? Because the ball is far, far, far away from our keeper. "When the ball is closer to my goal, now I am trembling.
So I prefer for the ball to be up there (far away from goal). For me, that is being pragmatic. Pragmatic? We are the best team in the world being pragmatic.
Look at the results. "People say we have a lot of passes, good build-up..
. We won a lot. So what does pragmatic mean? It's related to results, right? Not how beautiful the football is.
We believe that in the way we play means we are unbelievably pragma.