Guardiola Seeks Improvement as City Faces Ipswich
Manchester City will look to build on their opening-day victory against Chelsea as they host Ipswich Town at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. Despite securing a 2-0 win, manager Pep Guardiola expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance, highlighting their underperformance in terms of expected goals.
Guardiola acknowledged the need for improvement and emphasized the importance of collective understanding and resilience. He stressed that while the team has a clear plan, it’s how they respond to challenges that will ultimately define their success.
Despite having more shots and shots on goal, the Citizens beat the expected total goals (xG) by 1.23, which the Spaniard said surprised him.
“I didn’t expect it. We are away from our best so three points is the good news. The bad news is we have 65 games ahead of us,” Guardiola said.
“We have an advantage, it’s our ninth season together so we know each other well.
“There is a plan, defensive, offensive. But afterwards, it’s how we celebrate the good moments and come back from the bad moments.
“That’s what defines these teams and no one talks about it.”
Meanwhile, Ipswich marked their return to the Premier League with a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, although the result did not tell the full story of the contest at Portman Road.
The Tractor Boys restricted Arne Slot’s side to just three shots in the first half, none of which were on target, while also registering two shots on Alisson’s goal of their own.
But the Reds’ quality shone through after the break, with goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah securing an opening day win for their new manager.
And Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna insisted that lessons will be learned from their second half showing, with the result a solid foundation to build on moving forward.
“We know we can improve in the second half. Liverpool really hit their stride during that period and there’s bits we can do better there to make the game more competitive,” McKenna said.
“There’s positives to take and lessons to learn, and I think it’s a game that stands us in pretty good stead.”
