“You will not have my headlines” – Pep Guardiola pokes fun at Daily Mail upon Arne Slot question | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was asked to react to Liverpool boss Arne Slot’s comments on the Blues having the luxury of rotating much more than the Reds ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game against Bournemouth.

Liverpool are undergoing a rut of form and have lost five of their last six games in all competitions as they look to kick on from their 2024-25 title winning campaign and go from strength to strength after spending around £450 million in the summer.

Slot’s side have dropped in seventh place in the Premier League table in the last week, with questions being asked of whether the Merseyside outfit have made one change too many to their title-winning squad from last term.

Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike are among the high-profile signings made by Liverpool in the summer transfer window, with Slot being heavily backed by the club’s owners – Fenway Sports Group (FSG) – in his second summer in charge at Anfield.

However, it has far from gone to plan for the English champions so far this season and Liverpool were recently handed their latest blow as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the fourth-round courtesy of a 3-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace in midweek.

Slot received huge criticism for naming a very young starting XI against the Eagles, who put the much changed Reds to the sword and added the latest nail in the coffin for Slot, who has become increasingly impressive with his excuses to deflect from Liverpool’s poor performances on the pitch in recent months.

The Dutch manager explained his team selection by comparing his list of options to that of Manchester City, who according to Slot have the luxury of resting their best players and still naming a stronger starting XI that he can.

It did not need Pep Guardiola to admit that Slot is just looking for any excuse that he can get as the Liverpool boss is, for the first time since he replaced Jurgen Klopp in 2024, put to the test as his side endure their worst run of results since he took charge.

Liverpool face Manchester City in the Premier League next weekend and Guardiola was asked about Slot’s lame excuse ahead of Sunday’s visit of Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium, with City looking to return to winning ways after their two month unbeaten run came to an end last week with a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.

“You will not have my headlines in the Daily Mail, I’m sorry. You will not have it,” said Guardiola in response to Mail Sport’s Jack Gaughan when quizzed for his verdict on Slot’s objectively unintelligent remark.

City have slowly clawed their way back into the title conversation this season with a fine run of results since the end of August – having made a stuttering start to the campaign after back-to-back losses to Tottenham and Brighton in their opening trio of Premier League games.

Guardiola will know his side have little room for error in the opening months of the season as league leaders and title favourites Arsenal set the pace at the top of the table, with Manchester City embarking upon a difficult run of fixtures against Bournemouth, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.