Pep Guardiola believes Erik ten Hag will lead Manchester United for a very long time.
On Saturday, the first-ever all-Manchester FA Cup final will pit Guardiola's Manchester City team against United, with the potential to win the second domestic trophy of the year and maintain their treble aspirations on the line. United is attempting to complete a domestic double while also preventing City from winning the triple after they placed third in the Premier League and won the Carabao Cup.
Guardiola took the time to laud Ten Hag's remarkable performance at United in his rookie season and predicted that he will remain in the bench at Old Trafford for years to come, despite the fact that there is plenty on the line for both sides.
"I identify a manager by how they are improving, just to see when he arrives and now," Guardiola said. "To see the team getting better and better, that is not easy in the first season."
"I identify a really good manager, a part of that is a guy who represents our profession in the best way possible on the pitch and off the pitch. I cannot say we are friends, we are not in touch much. We had a short experience in Munich [when Ten Hag was a coach] but I think honestly United has an exceptional manager for many years."
Regarding United's development, Guardiola emphasized Casemiro's contribution at Old Trafford since joining in the summer in a move for up to £70 million from Real Madrid.
"I don’t know him but I have info when he was in Madrid, how professional he was, the quality he has," Guardiola explained. "I was convinced he wasn’t coming here just for holidays or the last years of his career.
"When you’ve won four or five Champions Leagues with Real Madrid it’s because you are special player. Otherwise you cannot be there for a long time."
"A final is special but what Manchester [United] are doing in last four five months, they are a completely different team to the one we played in the beginning of the season when we beat them here (6-3 at the Etihad).. They were much better when we played there (at Old Trafford) and lost, we played good but it's football."
"Now I have the feeling that they’ve improved since the beginning of the season. That is the reality. The patterns are more clear, the quality they have. It's United. The many years we're here we've done really well against them but it’s United, the quality of the players has always been there with Mourinho and other managers, always they were good."
Post a Comment