Guardiola: I liked everything I saw

Pep Guardiola “liked everything” about Manchester City’s 4-1 win at Stoke City on Saturday although he believes his team can still improve.

Sergio Aguero netted twice in the opening stages – the first from a controversial penalty award – to give City a comfortable lead at half-time, before Bojan Krkic pulled one back from the spot, referee Mike Dean again at the centre of the action, early in the second period.

A late Nolito double eventually settled the game to hand City their second win in as many Premier League games this season.

“I liked everything I saw. I am really impressed with the quality of the players and their performance,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“We defended high and compact with the second ball. It was a pity to concede the penalty in the first minutes of the second half. But in the first half, we played good and just missed the last pass. We arrived many times in the box with one against one. 

“We created a lot of counterattacks in the second half, good situations, but the final ball was not good. We have to try and finish the action. 

“We have only had one month together, there is time to get better.

“It is always tough to play here. With the corners it is difficult and the crowd is amazing. They have a lot of quality with the likes of Bojan and [Marko] Arnautovic, and we were lucky [Xherdan] Shaqiri was not there.”