Pep Guardiola has shown Manchester United a tactical plan to harness Bruno Fernandes

It was hard to take Pep Guardiola's comments on Manchester United in his pre-match press conference at face value ahead of the Manchester derby this weekend. It seemed Guardiola was being over-complimentary about United to revel in his side's superiority.

“When they can run with Cristiano [Ronaldo], [Anthony] Elanga, [Marcus] Rashford, Jadon Sancho, they are unstoppable," Guardiola said, five days after United drew 0-0 with Watford at Old Trafford, a game in which all four players were involved in. “They are faster, quicker and that's why we are going to defend for the first time deeper and use the counter-attack for 90 minutes.”

Manchester City have never played deep and counter-attacked under during Guardiola's six-year reign. They certainly won't for the first time against United on Sunday afternoon, but Guardiola's 'compliments' didn't stop there.

ALSO READ:The inside story of Manchester United's glorious 20th Premier League triumph.

The Catalan was effusive in his praise for Ronaldo and those comments at least felt genuine. You'd be foolish not to respect the greater goalscorer of all time.

"We have to explode our game, our strength to avoid Cristiano close to the box, because there he is almost unstoppable," Guardiola added. "When you are one of the greatest that he was in terms of being a goalscoring machine, you will always be there."

Ronaldo commands that respect but he's hardly played like a centre-forward City should fear in recent weeks. He's cast a frustrated figure on the pitch. He's been isolated spearheading United's attack and has looked like a 37-year-old in the Premier League.

Ronaldo has been a certain starter when available this season, but what is best for the team — which might be dropping Ronaldo