Pep Guardiola admits he is surprised how well Manchester City have started under his management after a 4-1 victory at Stoke City extended their winning start to the season on Saturday.
Guardiola’s team have won two Premier League games, either side of a 5-0 victory at Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League, since the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager replaced Manuel Pellegrini in the close-season.
And the City boss is delighted with his start in English football.
“We have had a short time together and in spells in our last three games my players have shown me how intelligent they are,” Guardiola said.
“They are really good players with a lot of quality which
they have shown here in one of the toughest places in the Premier league – at least people told me that.
“We saw again an amazing team spirit, how they communicate between each other, how they celebrated the goals and how they celebrated afterwards with the fans. That is the first step.
“We will improve many things but I am little bit surprised in the short time the level we played in Bucharest and here.
“To win 4-1 here is very good and we have scored nine goals in two games. It was a nice week for us.”
Sergio Aguero took his total to six goals in three games with City’s first two goals, before substitute Nolito added two more late on to give the victory margin an emphatic look.
Stoke had pulled within one goal just after half-time when Bojan Krkic scored from the penalty spot after Raheem Sterling had been judged to have fouled Ryan Shawcross.
That followed an earlier foul by Shawcross on Nicolas Otamendi to hand City a penalty for their opening goal as referee Mike Dean twice penalised infringements following corners.
“We have to be careful,” Guardiola added. “That’s why I like to defend with zonal marking because it is not man to man.
“You just attack the ball, maybe block sometimes if the people come and attack the ball. It was a little bit strange and I am sure Mark Hughes can say the same.
“All the teams have to careful with these kind of actions. I am not a guy that likes to complain.
“I don’t want the players to think I am looking for an alibi. If you win you deserve to, if you don’t win then you don’t deserve.”