Manchester City news: Peter Schmeichel criticises Pep Guardiola as 'boring' and 'lucky'

The former United goalkeeper said the Catalan introduced a 'boring' style of football at Bayern Munich and got 'lucky' with the players at his disposal at Barcelona

Peter Schmeichel has criticised the Manchester City manager as 'boring' and 'lucky' (Getty)

Pep Guardiola made an exciting Bayern Munich side "boring to watch" and was "lucky" with the players at his disposal at Barcelona, according to Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel.

Guardiola has enjoyed broad European success across the past eight years in his career. He won three La Liga titles as well as the Copa del Rey and the Champions League twice apiece at the Camp Nou.

The Catalan then continued his success in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, winning the league in consecutive seasons between 2014 and 2016, while also lifting the DFB-Pokal twice.

But in spite of this success Schmeichel has criticised Guardiola, arguing that Bayern developed a “boring” style of football under the manager’s tutelage.

"He was okay at Bayern Munich. I have to say he was okay," he told Omnisport. "For me, personally, he changed a really good, entertaining team to be become more boring to watch.

"Whereas Bayern before were very direct, they won the treble, had quick players and were exciting to watch, he [Guardiola] made them play more square. He changed the players, but you can't argue with his results."

Schmeichel, who made 398 appearances for United, also believes that Guardiola's success at Barcelona was partly down to luck given the talent he had at his disposal, including Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

"With Pep, he comes in with an incredible reputation. What he did with Barcelona was fantastic, his work was fantastic, but he was also very lucky he had the players to bring in the philosophy that he has in football," he said.

"So whereas [former United manager] Alex Ferguson's first priority was 'we have to be able to score goals' - for most coaches that's the priority - with Pep it's possession, I want to have as much possession as possible.

"So the philosophy goes to 'I want to have so much possession that at some point we'll score a goal from that, the goals will come from possession' and that's his philosophy.

"That's what we'll see at Manchester City or he's going to introduce that. He was very lucky he had the players at Barcelona but he was clever in what he did.”

But Schmeichel warned that “the Premier League is a completely different to any other in the world”.

He added: “It just goes on and on and on, you feel it never stops, even in March you have 12 games to go, you think will this ever stop?"