Pep Guardiola believes Bournemouth is the best side Manchester City has faced since his appointment despite beating it 4-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.
Advertisement
City maintained their ideal start to the campaign with a 4-0 victory against the Cherries, but Guardiola was impressed by what he saw from Eddie Howe’s side and rated them above even Manchester United, whom City beat 2-1 last Saturday.
“Maybe Messi sits alone at the table”.
“Bournemouth was until now the best team, who create more problems when they have the ball”, said Guardiola.
“I think Bournemouth are a very good team and the team who with the ball played better [than anybody else] against us”. He sees absolutely everything.
“He makes the right decision in the right moment every single time”.
“So I am a little bit surprised how much we are able to play at a good level”.
“We said when we signed him (Wilshere) that we want to get him near their goal and see his creative ability – and I think if you put him in City’s team you’d see a different performance from him”.
“I know his quality and of course he needs minutes and the next game of course he’s going to have these minutes”.
Howe was disappointed by the manner in which Bournemouth allowed Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho to score a pair of first-half goals, seeing City play the kind of pressing game he is trying to instil in his players.
De Bruyne, 25, was the man of the match in City’s 2-1 win at derby rivals Manchester United last weekend, scoring their opening goal and helping tee up Iheanacho for what proved to be the victor.
Speaking to journalists following the win over the Cherries, the City boss also moved to temper expectations inflated courtesy of the team’s ideal start and emphasised that he doesn’t place much stock in records.
“On Friday I saw two magnificent opponents – Liverpool and Chelsea”. We played like a small team without the ball.
Howe said: “It was hard for Jack”.
“We know we have a lot of things to get better at”.
Advertisement
Throughout his stellar coaching career, 45-year-old Spaniard Guardiola has managed some of the world’s finest players, including Xavi and Andres Iniesta at Barcelona and Arjen Robben and Thomas Muller at Bayern Munich.
