Pep purring as Blues ramp up the pressure
PEP Guardiola has rarely been happier in a post-match interview than he was as he sat down for questions following City’s victory over Leicester.
The Blues boss was delighted with the way his team had played against one of the best sides in the league, praising how aggressive they were, how quick they were both on and off the ball, and how they worked together.
Asked if it was the most pleasing performance of the season, he settled for it being the most pleasing victory.
Thanking the players for following his instructions and being convinced by them, Guardiola gave the impression that he had just watched the team that have smashed so many records in English football over the last two years.
Looking into the details of the game, it is hard to see where the team excelled in comparison to the rest of the season.
They averaged more passes per spell of possession in the game at Arsenal – where the manager was critical of the display – and enjoyed far more possession against United and Burnley recently.
They have been generally good at stopping the opposition getting close to their goal for a while, and continued their run of conceding despite that.
Interceptions and clearances were lower than recent games.
One stat that stands out though is the quality of the chances they created. City created enough good opportunities to score at least four goals in the game.
That is their second best tally of the season; essentially, the only game they were better at slicing opposition defences apart was in the 8-0 massacre against Watford.
The Foxes had only conceded 11 goals in 17 games before the champions put three past them.
It is that effectiveness that backs up Guardiola’s happiness at the way his team played.
The manager may still have reservations about the quality of the finishing, and mooted that it could come back to haunt them in the Champions League if they do not learn to punish teams more often.
But three goals was still a more than respectable effort in the circumstances and it is always a bigger worry when the team are not creating chances than when they are not finishing them. If City are to keep applying pressure on the teams above them, they need to do to future opponents what they did to the Leicester defence.