DIAMOND GEYSERS
Pep’s stars cruise.. but must deliver when it counts
Man City 3 West Ham 0 PEP GUARDIOLA knows there are no excuses this season.
The Manchester City boss has lavished £170million to revitalise the ageing squad he inherited a year ago – now he must deliver.
Goals by Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling saw City complete their preparations for the new campaign with a rout of West Ham in Reykjavik.
And the signs are the Blues will hit the ground running when they kick-off at top-flight new boys Brighton next Saturday.
“I am so grateful for what the club has done,” said Guardiola.
“With all respect to the players last season, we were one of the oldest teams in the Premier League and we didn’t buy fullbacks for five or six years.
“We decided we had to change the team and make it younger for the next four or five years and we have bought players to do that. Every club in the world, the manager and the sporting director, try to improve on what they did the previous year – and after what we have done I think we will be better.
“We have a lot of players with quality and I am happy. We had the basis of how we wanted to play last season – but now we will be stronger.”
City have also hammered Real Madrid and Tottenham during a pre-season that began with a defeat to Manchester United.
The embarrassment of riches at Guardiola’s disposal was illustrated on the hour at Iceland’s national stadium.
Off came Aguero, Jesus, Yaya Toure, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, John Stones and Danilo and among the subs were £43m new boy Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker, Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala.
Yet even with £50m Benjamin Mendy and Ilkay Gundogan still to come in when they recover from injury, Guardiola said: “I think we need someone else, something else, a little bit more.”
West Ham have also done some sound summer business.
And persuading City to allow Joe Hart to move to the London Stadium on loan could be inspired if signings like Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez can deliver value for money at the other end of the pitch.
But Slaven Bilic’s men, hamstrung by a clutch of players missing through injury, have won just one of their six pre-season outings.
They open with a trip to Old Trafford on Sunday week and Bilic said: “The signings we have made are all good players who know the Premier League.
“But when we play the leading teams we have to be at the top of our game because the difference is still very big.”