Pep Guardiola and the importance of a strong start

Pep Guardiola knows the importance of a strong start. After last seasons less than stellar start, this years two for two wins has the team feeling much better. City and Pep Guardiola have the team playing well and that’s with the players saying they can still go up a level.

So, with that in mind, Pep had some words on starting strong and much more:

“We are not champions of the Premier League (yet), that’s for sure. There are more than 100 points to play but I have no complaints, especially zero goals (conceded),”

“The fact we concede one shot on target (against Bournemouth) and in the game against West Ham, apart from Michail Antonio with the header and Declan Rice we didn’t concede much.

“That is the most important thing. We have the desire to gain the ball and with the ball we are incredibly well organised.

“Every time we lose the ball, we don’t concede the runners or counter attacks and that is so important for us especially against teams like West Ham.

“Two seasons ago we lost seven points in the first five games and last season we lost five points in the first five games.

“Always in this period we drop points, (then) after we make maybe 12, 13, 14 games in a row winning.

“This year that isn’t going to happen because when we are strongest - October, November, December - this is the World Cup.

“Maybe it will be different (this season). Of course, it is so important to start this consistent but now we have one or two days off and prepare our game for Newcastle.”

“We spoke that we had not done it but especially because it was tough not to play Jack because he played awesome against West Ham.

“But at the same time Riyad (Mahrez) is always so important in the small spaces and can find the right pass and action.

“And Phil is so important, he always creates something unexpected, he is dynamic, he is intelligent with his movement but at the same time he is young and sometimes he still has to understand what he has to do.

“After 45 minutes I wanted Jack to play. It was a tough decision for me to not play him because he played well against West Ham.

“I had the feeling he was ready, the games in pre-season and especially against West Ham he was really, really good.”

A great way to motivate the players. Man management is strong with Pep as we see here. Let’s hope it leads to continued success.