WOLVERHAMPTON, England :The several thousand Manchester City fans who travelled to Molineux on Saturday sang “City are back” as Pep Guardiola’s men kicked off their season with a thorough 4-0 Premier League thrashing of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
But Guardiola, whose once-mighty team stormed to four consecutive league titles before last season’s shocking third-place finish, pleaded patience, saying that one win meant little.
“The start is a good result, (but) no more than last season. Last season we started against Chelsea, 2-0 (win), and look what happened later,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.
“Last season also, we started with hunger and energy,” he added. “We see just the first game. So many, many points are still to play (for).”
Revamped City are playing their first season in 10 without midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, while Rodri is sidelined with an injury, Jack Grealish left last week for Everton on a loan deal and goalkeeper Ederson, who is rumoured to be on the move to Turkey, missed Saturday’s game with what the club said was an illness.
Guardiola was thrilled with his summer signings, however, as Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki both scored and goalkeeper James Trafford was solid in net in a tantalizing hint of what could be an entertaining season to come.
“Tijjani is an exceptional player, one of the best players from Serie A. He has an unbelievable rhythm,” Guardiola said.
“The new players have come and we’ve got a bigger squad, so we’ll have to see what happens. We’ll have to use the squad because it’ll be difficult to sustain the vibe of the team.”
Guardiola said his squad was too big.
“Too many people,” he said. “It’s not about Eddy (Ederson), today (there) was no Rodri, Phil (Foden), (Mateo) Kovacic, Savinho and Josko (Gvardiol). On the bench we had Nathan (Ake) and Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan).
“I like a deep squad to compete in all competitions but I don’t want to leave players at home. It’s not healthy. You cannot create a good vibe or atmosphere to compete.
“The club has known it since last season but the situation is what it is. In the next two weeks, people will talk with players and agents to find a solution. We have to reduce the squad because it will be difficult to sustain the vibe of the team.”
