Pep Guardiola says Manchester City must improve to win the Premier League title, despite a 3-0 victory over West Ham featuring a Haaland brace.
MANCHESTER: Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players that their current level will not be enough to win the Premier League title.
The manager issued the demand despite a comfortable 3-0 victory over West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Erling Haaland scored twice and assisted Tijjani Reijnders’ goal as City moved top of the table ahead of Arsenal’s later fixture.
Guardiola, however, was not satisfied with his team’s overall performance with the ball.
“I’m happy, I cannot deny that, we are fourth in the Champions League and in the semi-finals of the League Cup, but the way we played with the ball we have to improve,” he said.
“Otherwise, it will not be enough to arrive in March and April to be contenders to win titles.”
The six-time Premier League-winning coach expressed concern over a lack of cutting edge against West Ham.
He stressed the need for greater ruthlessness when controlling matches.
“In the first half we controlled the game but even with that we were not in the right places to create and we talked about that,” Guardiola said.
“In the second half when they made a step up we continued to play not good.”
“If they had scored to make it 2-1, West Ham would have made it 2-2.”
Guardiola did highlight positive contributions from Haaland, Phil Foden and Nico O’Reilly.
Haaland’s double took his tally to 38 goals for club and country this season.
“There were many good things. Offensively, Erling,” Guardiola added.
“Defensively we are improving. We are visualising it with the ball.” – AFP
