Fresh from slotting the ball into the bottom corner to level the score for Liverpool against the reigning champions, Trent Alexander-Arnold couldn’t resist silencing the crowd by placing one finger in front of his lips.
However, there wasn’t much noise to hush at the Etihad Stadium, at least according to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. In a meeting between the Premier League’s top two teams, the latest installment of the defining rivalry in modern English football felt somewhat subdued. Guardiola, on numerous occasions during the match, turned away from the pitch, pointing at his ears and flapping his arms toward the stands filled with 53,289 seemingly quiet spectators.
This wasn’t the first time Guardiola assumed the role of an exasperated conductor. Despite lacking the control he craves from the crowd, Guardiola praised City’s players effusively, describing their performance as excellent but noting a missing spark.
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When questioned about his gestures towards the crowd, Guardiola explained that he wanted “some more noise.” While Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp complained about the early kick-off after an international break, Guardiola also took issue with the scheduling, stating, “It’s 12.30; we were still in the sheets, sleeping. I like noise against Liverpool, but it didn’t happen. When it doesn’t happen, you have to play better to make the crowd follow us.”
This isn’t the first time Guardiola has criticized City’s home fans. He has previously expressed discontent with the crowd’s silence, notably after a 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in January, where he called for more support, emphasizing that he prefers the fans to demand the maximum, even if it means booing when the team doesn’t perform well. Guardiola sees the fans’ energy as a vital factor that strengthens the team when they are united.
Guardiola had actually begun the 2022/23 campaign by praising City’s fanbase. “It has changed compared to previous seasons and definitely my first seasons here,” the coach remarked in August 2022. “The noise is louder, they are closer, it is always full, and it is a joy to play in the Etihad right now.”
City‘s relentlessly successful coach has previously clashed with fans over the attendance figures at the Etihad. Guardiola called on spectators to make sure the stadium is “full, full, full” at the start of 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic put everything behind closed doors. Once public venues had reopened, he again demanded more footfall in September 2021.
Unlike the calls for more noise, fans did not take kindly to Guardiola’s comments which fed into the unflattering nickname for City’s home ground: ‘the Emptyhad’.