Bernardo Silva has detailed how he and Manchester City pulled apart Manchester United on Sunday.
The Portugal midfielder was outstanding on the day as City won 3-0 at Old Trafford.
"Knowing their full-backs were going to be tight with Jack [Grealish] and Phil [Foden], making those moments – me and Julian [Alvarez] tried to give them the option of the pass in the pocket between full-back and centre-back," Bernardo explained, outlining how simple City's plan was.
"But also if they followed us to come inside and shoot – it was definitely something we worked on and it worked today, we're very happy how we dealt with the game and our energy in pressing, which we lacked a bit at Arsenal. To do that today was a key point.
"Slow build-up, attracting the opponent and then when we find the space in behind their midfielders, we attack quick. It really worked. The momentum that we created and the timings of the build-ups and attacking in the final third worked brilliantly."
He also said: "The way we controlled the tempo and transitions when we lost the ball. Our defenders were really close to their attackers, and we didn't let them break through. We know what they want – they want us to lose our simple balls and to counterattack. We didn't give them much.
"The most important thing is to do a proper build-up and control the tempo of the game and not get the crowd involved. If you get these types of crowds in big stadiums involved, it creates the moment for them. We were perfect in keeping the crowd a bit quiet and controlling the game well, and then in the final third looking for the right moment to attack.
“That's what we train for – if you want to play for Man City you have to want to play and give an option to the player who has the ball.
"Today, everyone was really good on the ball and without the ball. That's what we do, how we train and the way that Pep has built this team. If things don't go well, you have to try and do your best to keep with the plan. We know that we play the right way for us, and we keep trusting in our process. It's always a process – if you relax a bit, you stop winning and we don't want that to happen."
