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The Spanish strategist was pleased with his team’s performance in Greece and is convinced that they are ready to hit their straps in the coming weeks.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has backed his team to peak form in the coming weeks after a 1-0 win against Olympiacos sealed a spot in the Champions League knockouts on Wednesday.
Phil Foden scored the only goal of the match at Karaiskakis Stadium, with the Premier League team enjoying 22 shots to two of their opponents in a dominant performance against the Greek team.
Guardiola was delighted with his team’s overall performance and feels it showed the team is ready to explode after a difficult start to the Premier League season, with City currently 13th in the table, eight points behind the Tottenham leader.
“We played very, very well in all departments,” Guardiola told BT sport After the match
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“We are in the next round and we can focus on other competitions. We would love to score more, but it will come and one day we will break everything.”
He added in his post-match press conference: “Today we were much more aggressive with the goal. It is not easy when there are nine players defending.
“We put our wingers closer to the striker. Everyone, Bernardo [Silva], Phil, once [Raheem Sterling]They were so aggressive.
“[Benjamin] Mendy and Joao [Cancelo] they were exceptional too. [Ilkay] Gundogan and Rodri too. Overall, the performance was top notch. “
Guardiola praised the pace of his team’s work, and their defensive performance hardly allowed Olympiacos a chance to score.
Special praise was reserved for center midfielder John Stones, and the England international has often found himself outside the starting eleven in recent weeks.
“Our pressure was very good,” Guardiola said.
“They made long passes and we won them. Our centers were outstanding.
“John Stones, [deserves an] an incredibly big compliment because it’s not easy when you haven’t played for a long time and together with Ruben [Dias] they made an amazing couple. I am especially happy for him.
“Everyone was so committed. We attacked with more desire to shoot and score the crosses. Now we recover as best we can and start to focus on the Premier League.”
Manchester City resume their Premier League campaign on Saturday by hosting Burnley at the Etihad Stadium.
