Nó concerns as City only getting started

PEP AND PLAYERS NOT PANICKING DESPITE BLANK

- JOE BRAY

WHEN Pep Guardiola goes to great lengths to praise a City performance, that means it probably hasn't been the best performance.

Guardiola uses wins to voice criticisms of his side, never willing to look like he is making excuses for dropped points. The 'Happy Flowers' rant of January 2023 was a perfect opportunity to unpick everything that was wrong in Guardiola's mind City had won, but from 2-0 down. Last season, Bernardo Silva admitted that he wouldn't have called the FA's scheduling 'unacceptable' if City had lost their FA Cup semi-final rather than won it.

The same works the other way. If Guardiola says he likes a performance over and over again in his media interviews, he's almost certainly said something different in the dressing room.

The Blues surprised themselves before the international break with how well they were playing. Three wins from three in the Premier League and a Community Shield win on penalties over Manchester United. They were still welcoming players back, but Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne were on fire and the likes of Rico Lewis, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol were performing to a high standard.

The results have continued after the break. Three points against Brentford and one against a very good Inter Milan side to open the Champions League league phase. But the results only tell half the story.

Guardiola broke with his pattern by admitting Brentford were better than City on Saturday, but stopped short of criticising his side's performance, only offering that they were 'lucky. It was a similar picture on Wednesday night City looked off, again vulnerable to the counter attacks through the middle, and not quite sure how to break down the low block at the other end.