Pep Guardiola Making Good on His Promise as City Are Enjoying the Game Again

“And obviously for our fans, at the end to try and [make them] proud. If our fans are proud with what they see, [I’ll be happy], because the fans around the world are so intelligent. When they see their players, they realise immediately if they are committed or what they do or not, and of course we are going to try. We start to work on that.”

When Pep Guardiola laid out his priority as Manchester City manager at his first press conference as the club’s boss, his message was clear. His players and staff have to make the City fans proud of their efforts. If the supporters are leaving the stadium impressed with the desire, commitment and quality of football, it’s a sure sign things are going in the right direction.

Against West Ham United, Guardiola’s fifth game in charge, he took a giant stride toward delivering on his own brief. Last time out, at Stoke City, the Blues ran 10km further than they had done in the same fixture last season and won 4-1. That had the fans in the away end at the Bet365 Stadium singing the Catalan manager’s name on a loop.

The level was raised on Sunday, particularly in the first half, with City moving the ball quickly and intelligently, putting together some wonderful pass-and-move football that left the Hammers struggling to compete.

Kevin De Bruyne was pulling the strings with his superb range of passing. David Silva, freed by Guardiola, is revelling in his more expansive role. Nolito continues to impress, and Raheem Sterling’s improvement is now a full-on renaissance.

Sterling opened the scoring after confidently dispatching Nolito’s ball across goal. Fernandinho headed in De Bruyne’s pinpoint free-kick soon after. City were rampant, and a hammering appeared to be on the cards.

However, Guardiola’s City are from the finished article. Their level dropped in the second half—that kind of intensity is difficult to maintain—and West Ham found a route back into the game, Michail Antonio heading in at the far post after outjumping Gael Clichy.

Perhaps a better side would have gone on and caused City further problems, but West Ham are struggling at this early juncture, affected by injuries and looking somewhat disjointed. City gradually regained control, Silva the creator-in-chief, and Sterling scored a quite brilliant goal to seal the win.

“I did nothing [to improve Sterling’s form],” Guardiola said. “I try to do the best for all the players. Raz has scored two goals. That’s good, but for me the games before were more brilliant.

“The first half he …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com