Jamie Carragher has fired back after a dig he received from Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, bringing up the club’s long list of FFP breaches after the manager took aim at pundits questioning whether his team have grown complacent.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Man City‘s away fixture against Aston Villa on Wednesday night, the Catalan coach referenced pundits and commentators questioning whether his side has taken its foot off the gas after winning a treble and three Premier Leagues in a row.
Despite insisting he didn’t have anything to say about pundits and their criticism of City’s form, Guardiola then went into a lengthy answer to the interviewers’ question, stating that “he knows how hard it is to win four Premier League’s otherwise Gary Neville would have [but] he didn’t do it”.
Adding that maybe “[pundits] are able to see all the things I’m not able to see”, Pep then doubled down by saying that “not even him, not even Jamie Carragher who didn’t win [a league title] once, not even Micah Richards — they haven’t won four in a row”.
Whilst his pushback against pundits appeared to be nothing personal against Carragher, specifically, simply stating a fact that he never won the Premier League and was merely emphasising how hard it is to win so many back-to-back, the former Liverpool man didn’t let the jab go unreturned.
Nevertheless, Carragher did fire back by suggesting that he and his teammates at the time would have “probably won one if Liverpool were owned by a nation-state, and pushed the rules so far that the PL charged us 115 times!!”.
Regardless, Pep went on to insist that he believes his side “will win it again” and that the handful of uncharacteristic results up to this point in the season is simply because they have “won a lot”.
The 52-year-old went on to reiterate how hard it is to win consecutive league titles, let alone for on the bounce, adding that “no team in England has ever done it”.
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As for whether this little tiff between Pep and Carragher will turn into a prolonged beef of any kind as we head towards Christmas and the New Year, with Liverpool and the Blues neck and neck at the top of the table, we’ll just have to wait and see.
You can watch Guardiola’s press conference in full down below:
Featured Images — Sky Sports/BeaymanSports (via YouTube)
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Man United Women lift their first-ever FA Cup as Ella Toone stunner sets game alight
Danny Jones
Manchester United Women have won their first FA Cup in their history following a 4-0 thrashing at the expense of Spurs.
With neither team having ever won the cup before, it was always going to be a historical moment for one of them – we’re just glad it just happened to be the Mancs.
After an up-and-down season in the Women’s Super League, Marc Skinner’s side signed things off with a potentially job-saving piece of silverware following an impressive performance in front of an equally impressive record 76,082-strong Wembley crowd.
It all got started with an absolute stunner for Tyldesley’s very own Ella Toone, netting not only the opener but the club’s first-ever goal in an FA Cup final.
From that moment on, the floodgates were well and truly open, as Rachel Williams made up for an earlier miss with the crucial second goal.
Only moments later, fan favourite Lucía García made it three and in fine fashion, pretty much sealing the landmark victory in less than an hour.
It’s also worth noting that the female Devils controlled most of the possession throughout the game and showed what they have been capable of in spells this year.
And then came another for García, with the brace rounding off an absolute rout in the capital. Here was the moment they knew their name was on the trophy:
With a Manchester derby for the men’s team in just a couple of week’s time too, it could be a double and a much-needed one at that.
It’s fair to say Man United as a whole are a club very much still in flux but successfully bringing home silverware is what the fans have been crying out for in the post-Ferguson era.
Will the blokes get the business done on their end? We’ll see soon enough.
Featured Images — Man United Women/FA Cup/BBC Sport
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Manchester City Under 18s win the coveted FA Youth Cup in comfortable fashion
Danny Jones
TheManchester City Under 18s squad have won the prestigious FA Youth Cup in fine fashion after cruising past Leeds United 4-0.
The academy-level competition is one of the most highly revered trophies in the English youth ranks, with some of the greatest teams and legendary footballers having first shone on this stage, including the Class of ’92 as well as players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Foden and more.
Ben Wilkinson’s promising young side secured the youth title after a comfortable showing at the Etihad Stadium on Friday night, making this the fourth time they have lifted the trophy, the previous times being 1986, 2008 and most recently in 2020.
Here’s the moment the young ‘Cityzens’ drank in their success.
Commenting on the momentous achievement, Academy Director Thomas Kruecken said of the squad and staff: “This is a fantastic achievement for our Academy. The FA Youth Cup is one of our main targets each season, so to have won the trophy for the fourth time in our history really feels special”.
“Ben, his staff and all the players deserve huge credit for the way they have played throughout the competition. It’s been a pleasure to watch them grow and develop together and they’ve produced some outstanding football along the way.
“But this trophy belongs to everyone connected to Man City’s Academy. There are so many people who work tirelessly every single day to ensure the Academy environment is as good as it can be – to give our young players a platform to develop and become the best footballers they can.
“It makes me really proud to see the work our staff do every single day.”
The names on the scoresheet included Justin Oboavwoduo, Stephen Mfuni and Matty Warhurst, who came straight off the bench to grab the fourth and final goal, but this was probably the pick of the bunch from Jaden Heskey, son of former Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and England striker, Emile:
City are still a fair few short of Manchester United’s record in the competition, having won the tournament 11 times, but with more development and focus on the academy system and club-wide playing principles up and down all age levels ever since Pep Guardiola arrived, this won’t be their last.
Congrats to the youngsters and be sure to remember those names – we’re sure plenty of them will be lighting up leagues soon enough.
You can watch the highlights from Man City’s U18s’ convincing Youth Cup victory down below or watch back the game in full HERE.