Pep Guardiola said he was delighted to see City rack up a seventh successive win thanks to a 3-0 home win over West Ham and so go top of the Premier League – for a few hours at least. Match Report C...
Pep Guardiola said he was delighted to see City rack up a seventh successive win thanks to a 3-0 home win over West Ham and so go top of the Premier League – for a few hours at least.
City go top with assured victory over West Ham
But the boss insisted much more was needed from the side if City are to go on and seek to reclaim the league title come next May.
An Erling Haaland brace allied to a fine strike from Tijjani Reijnders proved enough to overcome the challenge of a dogged West Ham side in what was our final game before the Christmas break.
Reflecting on this latest victory, the Blues boss praised the work rate and desire of his side – but insisted he wanted to see much more on the technical aspect of things.
“We are happy to win but the way we are with the ball, we have to improve otherwise it will not be enough to be title contenders in March, April and May,” Guardiola said.
“Always I have to thank Erling for the goals but today thanks to him, Phil and Nico O’Reilly, they help us a lot to do this game.
It feels good to score at the Etihad, says Reijnders
“Defensively we are improving and we can visualise it but with the ball, we are away from what we have to do. We are not close.
“The way we attack depends on how the opponents defend, we have to be in the right spots to make it more fluid and we were not.
“We are happy, we cannot deny we are in the Champions League spots, the semi-final of the Carabao Cup and up there in the Premier League.
“I want to be honest and I said to the players ‘I’m happy and Merry Christmas’ but we have to improve, it will not be enough.”
Traditionally during the Catalan’s trophy-laden near decade at City, the side has grown in stature and momentum across the second half of the season.
And with the campaign almost at its midway point, the boss stressed that if his players took on board his message and advice, it promised to develop into another season to savour.
Haaland moves ahead of Lee in City’s scoring charts
“We will be there. If they follow me, we will be there, but we have to improve,” Pep added.
“I know the level but it’s not enough. The spirit, the aggression, the hunger is there.
“All the attributes they need that is not highlights. Many things, we have to do better.
“We have to remember that Rodri, Omar, Jeremy, Kova, Rayan Ait-Nouri are not here.
“We had five players from the Academy on the bench today.”
“I am happy they follow us but if we want to reach the next step, we can find the spaces and we have to be the right spots that define the team.”
Category: General Sports
