My plan to make City even slicker

Coach identifies areas leaders need to improve Mourinho comments not true, Spaniard insists

Pep Guardiola has told Manchester City’s players it would be a “big mistake” to think they were “doing enough” and warned his Premier League rivals that the best was still to come from his rampaging side.

In a revealing insight into Guardiola’s exacting demands, the City manager claimed the league leaders could do “much, much better” and listed a series of specific areas where he felt his players were capable of offering more.

Guardiola also refused to rule out a bid for Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez in the transfer window next month and wants to sign a

‘We try not to think that if we win, that’s good, and it’s enough. That is a big a mistake’

centre-half, with Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, Jonny Evans, of West Bromwich Albion, and Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez on City’s radar.

City can extend their advantage at the top of the table to 14 points this evening when they host Tottenham Hotspur, who have won just one of 17 league away matches against the established top six under Mauricio Pochettino.

But despite a record-breaking top-flight run of 15 wins, Guardiola believes City have only scraped the surface of their capabilities and that the high-flying players should be casting a very critical eye over their performances.

“What’s important is to focus on the pitch what we have to do to play better, to increase our chances and to concede few – that’s what we have to do,” he said. “I have the feeling we can do better – much, much better. That’s what we have to try to insist in them.

“They see after the game what we have done [that is] good and many things that are not good. We speak individually to some players and we show them the actions we can improve.

“Always there are weapons – in the good sense – that we use to make them feel they can be better players. So, we try not just to think that if we win, that’s good, and it’s enough, and if we lose, it’s bad. That, I think, is a big mistake.

“You have to increase the amount you talk about the bad things when you win a match. Because after that, they [the players] don’t believe that it’s just a complaint or a regret. It’s saying to them, ‘OK, we can still do better’.

“They are more open. That is when you have to work the most – when you win. When you lose, you have to work more on their confidence, and say, ‘That is part of the game, you can do better’.”

Guardiola believes there are specific “individual aspects” where City can improve. For example, he wants the full-backs, usually Kyle Walker and Fabian Delph, to better limit the space in behind them for rivals to exploit. “Our full-backs sometimes allow the opponents to make a cross,” he said.

Walker faces Spurs for the first time competitively since his £50million move from the club to City in the summer. Guardiola believes the England right-back is now among the best in the world in his position but says it is important that the 27-year-old continues to cultivate his game intelligence because the time will come when his physical prowess wanes.

“I’d like to help him to solve problems not just through his physicality but also through his thinking,” Guardiola said. “When you are so strong physically, you solve all the problems that way. When you get to a certain age – 28, 29, 30 – after that, you need to think more about what’s going to happen.

“Of course, against [Marcus] Rashford and [Anthony] Martial [in the Manchester derby] they are so fast and he was able to control them and few players in the world can control them like he did. That’s why he’s so important for us.”

Guardiola also wants the positional play of his wingers to be better “when they receive the ball” and claims the team as a whole need to become wiser to adapting to tactical changes opponents make in an attempt to stifle their creativity.

“In the last game against United, they had played the last three games with five at the back but they played four against us,” Guardiola said. “We cannot wait until halftime to understand what is the way you have to defend when they play one system or the other.”

Jose Mourinho, the United manager, had claimed before the derby that City committed deliberate “tactical fouls” when they lost possession to kill counter-attacks, but Guardiola rejected any suggestion he told his players to do that.

“I never, never, never, never sent a message to my players,” he said. “You can ask these players and the

old players [at Barcelona and Bayern Munich], if my message on the pitch was to make fouls,” he said. “I don’t use this kind of message.”

Asked what he does tell his men to do to thwart counter-attacks, Guardiola said: “To be ready, to be close to their run. But of course, we make fouls. Of course, we do that. We are not a saint.”

City’s winning run does not yet match Guardiola’s best as a manager. He won 16 league games in succession at Barcelona and 19 at Bayern. He added: “The record is OK, but records stay there and one day are going to be broken. Statistics are statistics. It’s good to write about that but, with the way we play, I am satisfied the most.”