IF MIKEL ARTETA was enjoying the latter stages of Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace last night, Pep Guardiola would have had more than a wry smile.
Typical United.
Casemiro’s yellow card for his cynical foul on Wilfried Zaha means Old Trafford’s most impressive player this season will be suspended for the encounter with Arsenal on Sunday.
And Michael Olise’s stunning injury-time free kick renders any talk of a title tilt redundant given the Gunners are eight points clear, with a game in hand.
For the City boss, his preparations for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur tonight now complete, he would have seen yet another United side fail to use a derby victory as a means to kick on further.
Not that he would give it a second thought as he attempts to revitalise City’s defence of their title. Like United, they are eight adrift of Arsenal and while there are issues to overcome, experience makes it impossible to discount a comeback.
“We have to improve our game, control what we can control. This is what big teams have to do. It is the past, and that is all,” Guardiola explained following that defeat at the weekend.
With Erling Haaland looking to end a three-game goal drought against Spurs, and City managing just one shot on target over two games against United and the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Southampton a week ago, the Catalan was even drawn into discussion regarding the prowess of his team in the final third.
It wasn’t so long ago he was being asked about whether his Norwegian striker would break all manner of scoring records and prove the difference in finally clinching the Champions League.
“Our fluidity has not been as good as usual. In the past we have always had incredible movements in the final third, in the small spaces. Now, in the last two games, we haven’t had it. I would say it was my fault. I didn’t make them understand the way we have to attack.
“We need runners, not just Erling. If we had just Erling he would be controlled by two or three central defenders. We need more players in those positions, definitely. We have done it. We have to do it more often.”
That just illustrates the ridiculous nature of see-saw hypothesises when it comes to a football team’s triumphs and ills.
Guardiola’s opposite number tonight, Antonio Conte, appears to be caught in a relentless swirl of conjecture since arriving in north London.
Much of it his own doing.
“There will be assessment about the club, about me. I think that, for me, it’s very frustrating. The situation speaks clear.
“The club has to make an assessment, also to speak together and understand together which is the best solution. The players are always the same.
This club changed the coaches, but the players are the same. The result doesn’t change. I’m too honest to accept this situation. It’s not right, it’s not good for everybody to continue to lose. It’s not good for no-one.”
That was Conte effectively talking himself out of a job following a 1-0 defeat away to Burnley in February of last year.
Like United dropping points last night, the result at Turf Moor came just days after a stunning late win against City courtesy of a 95th-minute Harry Kane goal.
Fast forward 12 months, and after a sobering North London Derby defeat to Arsenal, the Italian was once again vocal.
In England, there is a bad habit that there is only the coach to speak and to explain. I have never seen the medical department come here to explain why this player is having difficulty to recover.
“It’s the same also, I have never seen the club or sporting director come here to explain the strategy and vision of the club.”
Guardiola’s issues are paltry in comparison to the bigger battles Conte is fighting with those above him.
All the City boss has to do is make his excellent collection of footballers rediscover the kind of form which made them look so irresistible earlier this season.
That shouldn’t be a problem against Spurs tonight.
And Conte might just find that the silent assassins in the boardroom will revert to type by having their say in their own way.