Pep Guardiola has revealed what he told his Manchester City players during halftime of their victory over Sheffield United.
City returned to winning ways at the Etihad Stadium yesterday after blowing a 2-0 lead against Crystal Palace in their previous home fixture, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
After finishing 2023 with another win and a clean sheet, City manager Pep Guardiola revealed some behind-the-scenes facts regarding what was spoken in the dressing room when his team was 1-0 up over United at the halfway point of yesterday’s encounter.
Guardiola gives a halftime team talk to the Manchester City players.
Guardiola said this to the media (via Sam Lee) following City’s win over the Blades on what he told his players at halftime.
He was quoted as saying: “I didn’t talk one word about tactics at HT, I sat on a chair and said, ‘Guys, go out with a different rhythm or we are not going to win like what happened against Crystal Palace’.”
In terms of offensive intent in both half, the home team had eight in the first and ten in the second, demonstrating how they shifted their attacking rhythm.
Their total effort as a team earned them a SofaScore rating of 7.52/10, which, when compared to United’s team rating of 6.56/10, shows which side was the strongest and deserved the victory.
Given how upsetting the Palace draw was and how they dropped the two points on that occasion, we believe Guardiola was correct to bring it up to his players at halftime against the Blades.
Moving forward, if City can continue to be strong at home and retain more clean sheets, they will be in with a chance.
