And ahead of City’s opening Champions League tie against Borussia Monchengladbach tonight in the same group as Celtic and Barcelona, Guardiola warned that his players must raise their level.
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Guardiola has reached the Champions League semi-finals in each of his seven seasons in top-flight management but admitted he will not be able to win over the critics who claim he underachieved in Germany.
Claudio Bravo endured a hard debut for City against Manchester United last Saturday, making a mistake that led to a goal and having some other awkward moments.
His record on the road in the knock-out stages is surprisingly poor – he has won just four of 21 matches, and once with Bayern – and there is the (unfair) criticism hanging over him that he failed at Bayern Munich because he did not win the Champions League.
“I think it’s the last part of that because he’s training with the group”.
And Guardiola reminded his in-form players there is still plenty of room for improvement, particularly when it comes to taking on elite opposition, at home and overseas. “I saw the game [again] yesterday we played against United to realise the things we made good and which things we have to improve”, he said.
In a group which includes favourites Barcelona, City are keen to get off to a good start: “They are a courageous team, [with a] fearless coach – one of the best teams in Europe”, he said.
Guardiola was generally pleased with the way his men played over that 45 minutes as they assumed a 2-0 lead through Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho before Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s reply just prior to the break.
Guardiola has spent much of his time with the press discussing his tactics.
The determination of City to establish themselves as a European force is well known and bringing in Guardiola, a two-time Champions League victor as coach, is clear evidence of their ambition. At one stage he discussed the importance of a goalkeeper to the “build-up” for almost three minutes.
Saturday’s contest saw the Blues, particularly in the first half, once again produce the slick, passing football with which their new manager has for so always been associated.
“They are aggressive, they bring the game one against one, man to man in the build-up, two against one, three against two, and when that happens it’s a fight. With the ball they are so, so intelligent”. They receive behind our midfield line five players, they attack five against four. It’s simply “play football and don’t listen to it” – don’t read anything like that.
Guardiola said after the Manchester derby victory against United at the weekend that he doesn’t believe his side is ready to take on the best in Europe. Of course Barcelona is there, but especially for Gladbach.
Guardiola said: “We made good things and bad things and we have to improve for the future. I know them, they are a very, very good team”. It’s a record that Guardiola must improve.
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The Blues squeezed past the Germans in their two group stage meetings a year ago but, somewhat ironically, they are set-up to do maximum damage to Guardiola teams. But there are few coaches, if any, better equipped to find the solutions than Guardiola.
