Pep Guardiola missed the point with Manchester United spending jibe

The League Cup trophy has become a regular resident of Manchester, but for the last few years it has been draped in blue ribbons rather than red.

In seven of the last eight seasons, it has been brought back to the city. Five times by Man City, and four times in the hands of Pep Guardiola.

There is no manager who understands or respects the trophy quite like the City boss, which is why his comments following United's triumph felt a bit odd.

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Guardiola has frequently faced questions about the financial backing that has underpinned his success, and he used the opportunity to caveat United's own trophy win with the money they have spent.

"Congratulations to United for the Carabao Cup and to Newcastle as well - the game was entertaining," he said at his press conference on Monday. "If they spend a little more money, yes [they can challenge more regularly]. It’s because they didn’t spend, isn’t it?

“It’s normal, they’re in the position they normally should be. The reality is that they fought against two teams in the last years - Liverpool and ourselves - that have done incredibly well in the numbers. When I landed here I thought United would always be there, for the history, for everything. Erik is doing an incredible job."

There can be no ignoring the fact that United invested a record sum of money last summer, but there was mitigation to it.

United had never exceeded the £150million mark on permanent signing across a single window, and blew that out of the water with over £220m in Ten Hag's first window.

Club officials themselves admitted they were further along in the rebuild process than they had ever envisaged following the late captures of Antony and Casemiro,