Premier League week 6: Manchester City 5-0 Crystal Palace
5-0 vs Liverpool, 6-0 at Watford and 5-0 today + 4-0 at Rotterdam in the Champions League resume the state of Manchester City. The Citizens are devastating and crushing every single opponent. Additionally the defense has been very solid with only 2 goals conceded in the first 6 weeks of the EPL. The intentions are clear this season: Win trophies!
coach Pep Guardiola comments on the performance:
“We started well in the first five or ten minutes. We created good chances but after that, we forgot the ball should be moved.
The ball was in the possession of the feel and everything was slow. We conceded [chances] on the counter-attack and anything can happen.
If you analyse the first 30 minutes of the first half, we were not ready. Nobody took the ball and started to play. It was nine or ten seconds before anything happened. It was slow. We have to create the game, provoke the situations…
Ten minutes before the goal, I thought: ‘now, we’ve got it.’ The tempo was quicker. We had the right tempo and patience in the right times. The fans love quick transitions – in three seconds, you are scoring a goal. We have to move the ball quicker.
We are not a team to wait for the set-piece or counter-attack. Nothing moves quicker than our ball. We train everyday for that. In the second half, the team was ready. We did not concede in possession, we moved the ball quicker, we found the right side… we did well. This week, we played well.”
Preparing for the Champions League tie:
“I know Shakhtar very well from Barcelona and Bayern,” he recalled. “Every time, they had amazing players and experienced players. They are a top team and they are able to beat some of the top teams, like Napoli.
We cannot be distracted. We have to be careful. Hopefully, our fans can come. We need them. We need to make a huge step in the Champions League.
We can learn what we have not done well today, take it into Tuesday’s game and then to London against Chelsea. Hopefully, in the next games, we are going to be great, especially at home – it’s good for our confidence.
We are still in September. I am not one to tell people not to be excited but this is a show. Fans come to see us and it’s our job.
