Guardiola: It was one of our WORST displays!
MANCHESTER CITY might have set a new record for victories yesterday, scoring four in the process, but Pep Guardiola scolded his players after a lacklustre performance. The Premier League champions became the first team in history to win 34 top-flight games in a calendar year by cruising past Newcastle United. But despite the ease with which they notched up an eighth consecutive win — pulling three points clear of second-placed Liverpool — their boss was left unimpressed with the collective display. The remarks underlined why City are so consistently strong under the Catalan as they hunt for a fourth league title in five years. ‘It was an exceptional result and not a good performance at all — especially in the first half,’ Guardiola said. ‘The way we played in the first half was one of the poorest of the season. ‘The quality of the players made the difference but that is not the way we want to play. ‘In this type of game when you’re not so brilliant, you take the result. What we missed was the simple things, not the complicated things.’ City are in the envious position of being able to score four goals away from home and still believe there are significant areas to improve. Guardiola appeared pleased that it could serve to keep his squad in check, on a day when he did not call on either Phil Foden or Jack Grealish. ‘It made me happy for the fact that we will not be distracted for this short run of victories,’ he added. ‘I realised there is a margin for us to become a better team. The first half was dangerous really. Every player was not completely focused. ‘We are proud. We’ve broken a record but I am still aware of the margin we have to be better. We are working on that.’ Guardiola has watched City eat up the goal difference deficit with their two title rivals this week by scoring 11 times in two matches. He claimed the demolition jobs had ‘solved the goal difference problem’. Newcastle boss Eddie Howe (above), meanwhile, was left counting the cost of officiating for the second time in four days. Howe was aghast by Martin Atkinson and VAR official Craig Pawson’s decision to deny the hosts a first-half penalty after Ederson collided with Ryan Fraser at 2-0. ‘I’m not the type of manager that looks for excuses or blames the officials but it is another clear moment — a big moment in the game — that has gone against us,’ Howe said. ‘I’m shaking my head because the goalkeeper is out of control, he’s wiped Ryan out. How VAR hasn’t intervened or how they haven’t come to that decision is a really strange one.’ Howe will also be disgruntled at his team’s defending after a breakdown in communication between goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and Ciaran Clark allowed Ruben Dias to head home a calamitous fifth-minute opener. ‘The individual errors… it’s something we need to address very quickly,’ he said. ‘City are the one team in the world where you don’t want to chase the game. They are so good with the ball.’ Guardiola added: ‘We were lucky with the goal at the beginning, the Newcastle defenders misunderstood and were confused. The second goal was brilliant from Joao Cancelo.’ City were again without right back Kyle Walker, with Guardiola twice repeating that the England international ‘did not feel good’.