Bravo was not deemed ready by Guardiola to feature in Sunday’s match, which saw Willy Caballero play in goal for the hosts. With the quality of our players we can be satisfied.
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“I didn’t see so I can not comment”.
“I saw him exhausted and I saw him with problems”, said his manager, who gave Samir Nasri encouragement that the midfielder had a long-term future at the Etihad Stadium.
Despite a nervy period in the second half when Michail Antonio had restored hope for the visitors, the Spaniard was pleased overall. We put them under a little bit of pressure.
City had the ball in the net early in the second half following another De Bruyne free-kick but Nolito, who got the final touch, was one of two players offside.
“Raz (Sterling) has scored two goals, was good but the games before was more brilliant than today (Sunday)”.
Silva was prominently involved, as is so often the case, moving across the centre of the pitch, from right to left, and sliding his pass behind the visiting defence for Nolito to reach the byline. Credit to the boys, they had a cracking build-up on the left-hand side and it was my chance to get in there and get into a good position – luckily I did. They are taller in the box so they play in that style and that can happen.
Raheem Sterling may have become the poster boy for England’s woeful Euro 2016 campaign, which culminated in the embarrassment of a defeat by Iceland, but there was no denying the City forward’s class as he scored twice against the Hammers at Eastlands.
“Yeah, it depends on the player but he can play”, said Guardiola when asked if the Frenchman still had a future at the club.
“We have to make an unbelievable performance to win at Old Trafford”.
“Of course we can do better”, said Guardiola.
The home side had a number of chances to extend their lead in the closing stages, most notably Samir Nasir, but the substitute was let down by poor finishing. The performance was really, really good with the ball and without the ball. “We need Ilkay and Sane and all the guys because the guys who play today can not play every three days”.
As expected, the home side started on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring in just the third minute when Aguero wriggled free of Winston Reid before looking to pick out the bottom corner, but his effort was just wide of the post.
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“With so many players we are missing, you have to praise the team”, he said.
