'F*ck, I'm really good' - Pep Guardiola issues sarcastic response to Jose Mourinho comparisons after surprise Man City tactical shift during Arsenal draw

To everyone's surprise, City recorded only 33 per cent ball possession during Sunday's Premier League clash at Emirates Stadium as Arsenal came back from behind courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli's late equaliser to snatch a crucial point. 

After the game, many experts claimed that Guardiola copied Mourinho's pragmatic tactics to grind out a win instead of sticking to his usual fluid philosophy. Manchester United legend Roy Keane even slammed the Catalan manager for coming up with "fatigue" excuses for City's underwhelming performance in north London.

Now, Guardiola has hit back at his critics and the Mourinho comparisons with a sarcastic response: "When we won the Premier League we were a boring team, right? Maybe the players in the future can talk about how much I’ve changed this season. Maybe they are the ones who have the most credit to talk if I really changed approach, because they are in every meeting, every game, every post-match meeting. You can ask them.

"I think it’s completely the same. Completely. We changed the way we played against Napoli? [No.] Three days later we changed our way to play? F*ck I’m really good, I changed absolutely everything in three days! I must be a really, really good manager. Until I retire, I would love to play in the way I want to play. In the principles, I prefer us to regain the ball high up the pitch, make a lot of possession to disturb the structure of the opponents and try to punish them. Always it’s been like that and always I will be like that."

Guardiola is expected to heavily rotate his starting lineup in their Carabao Cup third-round fixture against Huddersfield on Wednesday, so that some of his star players get some well-earned rest before their Premier League fixture against Burnley on Saturday.