Ahead of this afternoon's 'six pointer' between Manchester City and West Ham, both managers almost went to extreme measures in order to 'compliment' each other's teams during their pre-match pressers. The respect is mutual but does contain an underlying myth busting message.
Reading between the lines Pep Guardiola has been saying "These cockney upstarts are threatening the higher order, good, because it means they are putting pressure on the traditional top four, or at least the top six! But we'll beat them anyway!" In his pressers he did say that he 'feared' West Ham for various reasons and that the club were 'magnificent' last season as well as this.
David Moyes has eulogised about Pep and City in the past and saw no reason to deviate from that opinion in his Presser, citing how powerful there squad is Moyes eluded to the fact that he sees Man City as a club that plays football that he aspires to, string praise indeed. He then followed that comment up by stating that HIS club were ding their best and not getting ahead of themselves, when questioned about Champions League qualification he reverted to his usual answer "Maybe, perhaps it might be a bit too far too soon, but we'll give it a go!"
So there you have it, BOTH managers have FORKED TONGUES when speaking to the Press, and while there is obvious mutual admiration, both of them would love to grind their opposition into the dust, irrespective of how much they like them!
