PEP URGES CITY TO MAINTAIN GOAL BLITZ

PEP GUARDIOLA challenged his Manchester City stars to keep firing on all cylinders as they look to maintain their position on top of the Premier League.

Guardiola’s side moved ahead of Manchester United on goal difference with a 5-0 demolition of lowly Crystal Palace at Eastlands on Saturday.

City have now scored 16 times in their last three top-flight games, but Guardiola is demanding more from his players after they struggled to turn their dominance into goals in the first half.

“Nobody went to take the ball and start to play, so it’s five or 10 seconds before someone moves and takes the ball,” he said.

“When that happens, everything is slow. The ball boys were slow, everybody was slow.

“We have to be creative and provoke the situations and we didn’t for most of the time in the first half.”

City’s performance after the break pleased Guardiola more and was closer to what he’s demanding of his team for the visit of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League tomorrow.

“I know Shakhtar very well from my period in Barcelona and Bayern Munich, we played a lot of times,” he said.

“They were able to beat one of the best teams in the world right now, playing football against Napoli.

“We cannot get distracted because in the Champions League group we need to be careful.”