Newcastle United 0-1 Manchester City: Pep Guardiola offers strong reaction to Benitez’s tactics

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Newcastle United lost 1-0 at home to Manchester City this evening.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has told The Telegraph that he felt Newcastle United didn’t want to play football against them this evening.

City travelled to St. James’ Park tonight having won 17 Premier League games in a row, with manager Guardiola still unbeaten in the Premier League this term.

His side were expected to coast past Newcastle, but only edged past them by one goal as Raheem Sterling bagged a first half winner for City.

Raheem Sterling of Manchester City celebrates after scoring against Newcastle

That means that Guardiola’s men have now moved 15 points clear at the top of the Premier League table, and remain unbeaten as they already look to be closing in on the Premier League title.

For Newcastle, it’s a ninth defeat in the last 11 Premier League games, with just four points taken in that run, but manager Rafael Benitez surely won’t be too disappointed with a defeat against the league leaders.

The Magpies were extremely defensive against Guardiola’s side, as they had just 22% of possession, and mustered only two shots on target.

Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez (l) and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola

After the game, City boss Guardiola told The Telegraph that he felt Newcastle weren’t prepared to play football and slowed the game down too much, defending deep to prevent City from opening them up – and Guardiola was far from impressed with the tactics on show from Benitez and co.

“We deserved to win by far, we did absolutely everything, it’s not easy when the opponent doesn’t want to play,” said Guardiola. “They defend deep, well, it is not easy. We were involved in the rhythm, the Newcastle rhythm, and that’s why it was little more complicated. When you have 18 games in a row winning, always you have 10-15 minutes that way. I dunno. Maybe we win the respect for the other ones but I would like the open space for the football itself, for the spectators, for everybody. I cannot judge them so have to play better. We win so it’s not a problem,” he added.