Guardiola reflects on Man City ‘achievement’ after admitting to weakness Man City boss Pep Guardiola hailed a particular achievement his side have attained, but did admit to a ‘struggle’ his side are experiencing this season. Man City cruised to a 4-1 victory over Arsenal to book their place in the EFL Cup semi-finals. The sides went into the break level, but a strong second-half performance proved too much for the hosts to handle. Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Guardiola said: “Both teams need to score goals, we score four. “We changed the set-up, they score a good goal, after the second half we had more fluidity. The second goal was helped, the third maybe offside, so that makes a difference. After 3-1 it is a completely different game. “We put another player in the position we can make it dangerous. We score a goal, we had a good moment, didn’t suffer and they could not make passes in a row, but they changed, pressed better. The second half we adjusted and were a little bit more comfortable. FULL MATCH REPORT: Foden leads Man City charge as hapless Arsenal are put to the sword “The last two or three years we have scored a lot of goals and this year we struggle, but of course goals are important. “It is good for the rhythm for the players that haven’t played. For four years in a row we are in the semi-finals which is a good achievement in this competition.” Regarding the struggles of Mikel Arteta – his former assistant coach – Guardiola said: “I didn’t speak with him. What can I say, everybody knows we are judged on results. He can defend himself perfectly. “I worked with him, we cannot have had our success without him. He is an incredible manager. I know his proposals and what he will do. Not even a little run of bad results is going to change my opinion.” Mahrez “surprised” by Arsenal counterpart Riyad Mahrez restored Man City’s lead early in the second half after his free-kick somehow squeezed past the Arsenal goalkeeper. Reflecting on the performance, the Algerian winger said: “It was a solid performance. We started good and then they equalise. We got lucky with the free-kick and then we got the third one and then it was more easy for us. “We cannot always dominate every game. They can score at any time but in the second half we scored the second and the third and we made it more easy for us. “I was surprised at the position of [Alex Runarsson]. He was so close to the post and luckily didn’t catch it properly and that was good for us. “We’ve been struggling but it’s football. It’s not always easy to score four or five goals. Today we score four goals and it was a solid performance.” The post Guardiola reflects on Man City ‘achievement’ after admitting to weakness appeared first on teamtalk.com.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola hailed a particular achievement his side have attained, but did admit to a ‘struggle’ his side are experiencing this season.

Man City cruised to a 4-1 victory over Arsenal to book their place in the EFL Cup semi-finals.

The sides went into the break level, but a strong second-half performance proved too much for the hosts to handle.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Guardiola said: “Both teams need to score goals, we score four.

“We changed the set-up, they score a good goal, after the second half we had more fluidity. The second goal was helped, the third maybe offside, so that makes a difference. After 3-1 it is a completely different game.

“We put another player in the position we can make it dangerous. We score a goal, we had a good moment, didn’t suffer and they could not make passes in a row, but they changed, pressed better. The second half we adjusted and were a little bit more comfortable.

FULL MATCH REPORT: Foden leads Man City charge as hapless Arsenal are put to the sword

“The last two or three years we have scored a lot of goals and this year we struggle, but of course goals are important.

“It is good for the rhythm for the players that haven’t played. For four years in a row we are in the semi-finals which is a good achievement in this competition.”

Regarding the struggles of Mikel Arteta – his former assistant coach – Guardiola said: “I didn’t speak with him. What can I say, everybody knows we are judged on results. He can defend himself perfectly.

“I worked with him, we cannot have had our success without him. He is an incredible manager. I know his proposals and what he will do. Not even a little run of bad results is going to change my opinion.”

 

Mahrez “surprised” by Arsenal counterpart

Riyad Mahrez restored Man City’s lead early in the second half after his free-kick somehow squeezed past the Arsenal goalkeeper.

Reflecting on the performance, the Algerian winger said: “It was a solid performance. We started good and then they equalise. We got lucky with the free-kick and then we got the third one and then it was more easy for us.

“We cannot always dominate every game. They can score at any time but in the second half we scored the second and the third and we made it more easy for us.

“I was surprised at the position of [Alex Runarsson]. He was so close to the post and luckily didn’t catch it properly and that was good for us.

“We’ve been struggling but it’s football. It’s not always easy to score four or five goals. Today we score four goals and it was a solid performance.”

 

The post Guardiola reflects on Man City ‘achievement’ after admitting to weakness appeared first on teamtalk.com.

Steve Pearson