Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has showered praise on his striker Erling Haaland but at the same time, he’s made it clear that there’s room for improvement for his team.
City beat Yokohama F Marinos 5-3 in Tokyo and Haaland scored just seven minutes after being brought on at half-time. Last season, the former Borussia Dortmund man netted 36 goals in just 35 Premier League games but if Guardiola’s words are anything to go by then the Norwegian international could have an even better season this time around.
“Compared to last season he is fitter,” added Guardiola(as quoted by BBC). “He is much better than last season when he arrived.
“We would love him to be like last season. He is not injured, which is good, but he is still away from it like everyone. “He knows what he has to do, we know him and in a few weeks he will be in better condition than he is now.”
Manchester City will take on Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern Munich on Wednesday in Tokyo and Pep has claimed that his side still have a few things to work on before the 2023/24 season begins next month.
“It’s a good test because we don’t have enough preparation,” said Guardiola. “Yokohama played really well on the transitions – it was good for us. Many things we can improve, of course, and no-one injured, which is the most important thing.”Now we rest and prepare for Bayern Munich.”
Manchester City had won the treble last season and the last thing they can do is rest on those accolades. The likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are reshaping their squad to challenge the Cityzens while others like Chelsea, Spurs and Newcastle United will also hope to catch up with Pep Guardiola’s team.
The way Man City are playing right now, not many teams in Europe will come close to their style and brand of football but a 38-game league is a totally different ball-game. Last time around, City played catch up with Arsenal for the majority of the campaign and it was only at the final couple of weeks that they were able to move to the top of the table. They won the league by only five-point margin but in 22/23 it was only a two-horse race. This coming season, at least three to four other teams will hope to rival MCFC for the title and with several players leaving and also coming in, Pep Guardiola will have to ensure that his side do not lack the rhythm that made then English and European winners a few months ago.
