Pep Guardiola demanding better in front of goal from his misfiring Manchester City attackers
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ByEurosport
Updated 20/12/2020 at 10:03 GMT
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City must become ruthless in front of goal if they are to mount a Premier League title challenge. Raheem Sterling scored the only goal in the win at Southampton, and the lack of conversion is a worry for the manager. "Our momentum is not good up front. We will struggle if we don't break this situation and score more goals."
Pep Guardiola the head coach / manager of Manchester City reacts during the Premier League match between Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion at Etihad Stadium
Image credit: Getty Images
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was frustrated by his side's wastefulness in Saturday's 1-0 victory at Southampton and has warned his players they must develop a killer instinct in front of goal if they are to mount a successful title challenge.
Raheem Sterling gave City an early lead at St Mary's but Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Riyadh Mahrez all missed excellent opportunities to drive home their advantage. Their performance on the south coast summed up their season to date.
Guardiola's side have scored 19 goals in 13 Premier League games, just over half of the 37 they had netted at the same stage of the previous campaign.
"Our goal is to try and win games, to be up there as quickly as possible, as close to the top of league," Guardiola said. "But our momentum is not good up front. We will struggle if we don't break this situation and score more goals."
City are sixth in the table on 23 points, eight adrift of leaders Liverpool, who trounced Crystal Palace 7-0 on Saturday.
"We are far away. It's a lot of points," Guardiola told Amazon Prime. "Liverpool still have momentum. No doubts about how good they are."
While City are struggling for goals, they are in impressive form at the back. The 1-0 win on the south coast means no side have conceded fewer goals or kept more clean sheets than them in the Premier League so far this term.
"Defensively we were excellent," Guardiola said. "Last season we struggled a lot. Ruben [Dias] has helped us a lot. John [Stones] the last few games has been exceptional."
City can step back from the Premier League for a few days, as their next outing is a clash with Arsenal in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
(With additional reporting from Reuters)
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