Pep Guardiola says he can sense that Manchester City will have a good year after seeing a marked improvement in the squad, starting from the Club World Cup, but wants to see consistency from the team.
After thrashing Wolves at Molineux on the opening weekend, a home defeat by Tottenham brought them back down to earth for a mixed start to the campaign. City will be aiming to get over that loss at Brighton on Sunday in the final match before the international break. The two-week gap will deny them the chance to build momentum for now but when they return to action against Manchester United, it will initiate the start of a hectic domestic and European schedule.
Asked why he was feeling confident, the City head coach said: “The way we are training and the way we are competing. We have to improve, but there are things that I would say are a sign. When I see these things in games, like in the United States of America, I like it. We won six Premier Leagues in eight years and when we started the season I wouldn’t say I knew we were going to win the league. But I see things that I like.
“Even against Spurs I saw many things that I like my teams to do. I want to do some of them much, much better, but that is completely normal at this stage of the season. You will see through the results. When you are able to win four, five or six games in a row, or you’re competing well, or being stable in many departments, conceding few and scoring much more. After that I will say: ‘Our consistency is back.’”
The first stage of the Champions League will begin after the Manchester derby with the visit of Napoli on Thursday 18 September and the prospect of playing twice almost every week until the end of January will give the opportunity to build up rhythm. Five players have arrived since the end of last season, three making debuts at the Club World Cup, but Guardiola is waiting for them to integrate fully into a team that have adjusted their style since finishing a distant third in the Premier League and trophyless overall.
after newsletter promotion
“Maybe in two months I will say how wrong I was, but right now I have seen, since we travelled to the States for the World Cup, I have seen things that I like,” Guardiola said.
