Pep Guardiola has told Raheem Sterling to “avoid” the showboating that angered Juan Mata at the end of Manchester City’s derby win this afternoon.
Sterling produced a long sequence of stepovers in the final seconds of City’s 3-1 win, prompting United substitute Mata to angrily gesture at him after the final whistle. Guardiola also went over to Sterling, giving him one of his famous on-pitch post-match talks as everyone else celebrated on the pitch.
Speaking at his post-match press conference at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola confirmed that he had told Sterling to focus on keeping the ball, and that he wants him to cut out the flamboyant showboating in future.
“The best way to defend the result is to keep the ball, it’s the best way” Guardiola said, recounting his instruction to Sterling. He pointed to how second half substitutes Leroy Sane and Phil Foden had passed the ball between themselves to hold off United instead. “They did it, with Leroy and Phil, they did it. That situation, with two or three minutes left, they controlled it absolutely. It’s not the best way defending back, because everything can happen.”
Then Guardiola said he did not want to see a repeat of Sterling’s stepovers. “He made some movements with the legs, we can avoid it,” he said. “But he’s young and he’s going to improve.”
Guardiola was impressed at how City had avoided a repeat of last year when they were 2-0 up in this fixture but conceded three goals in the second half. Although City slipped back to 2-1 today, they controlled the game after that and ended up comfortable 3-1 winners. “The first half was not so good, we played like ‘I don’t want to lose the ball’ but not with the intention to attack, or to do something,” Guardiola said.
“I felt when I watched my team, that we felt the pressure. The second half, we started much, much better. After we conceded, always it’s inevitable to think about last season what happened again in that situation. But we didn’t concede one other chance, we defend so well. The last 30 minutes we made a very, very good game.”
That second half stability made all the difference to Guardiola. “After the second goal, the most satisfying [thing] is after 2-1, we react well. We are stable. We didn’t concede chances. Step by step we regain our game again. And after of course, after the third goal was easier.”
