Pep Guardiola has suggested that the Manchester City players took their contest against Everton quite lightly.
Sean Dyche’s side managed to frustrate the Sky Blues for 71 minutes until Erling Haaland broke the deadlock with a thunderous finish.
The Norwegian international doubled the hosts’ lead in the 85th minute as Manchester City extended their winning run to 10 in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola suggests Manchester City players took Everton test lightly
Considering Everton have lost two and drawn three games in their last five league fixtures, the contest had a City mauling written all over it.
However, the treble-winners were largely struggling to find a way past the visitors’ low-block and had failed to have a single shot on target before Haaland’s opener.
After Manchester City beat Everton 2-0 on Saturday, Pep Guardiola revealed that he had warned his players that the game would be a tough one and they took his warning lightly.
“We knew it. They don’t believe me. They felt it and these types of victories count more than the other ones, by far, like Brentford a few days ago. So, we were there, we didn’t concede one shot on target and of course, they are incredibly organised”, he told TNT Sports.
“It’s so difficult, set-pieces, we won perfectly, second balls. I think we didn’t concede one corner or nothing.”
Pep Guardiola was spot on
Pep Guardiola was typically spot on about how the game would fare and it seemed like the Manchester City players were off the boil for most of their clash against Everton for some rhyme or reason.
Ultimately, City have a habit of facing sides that sit in a low block but against the Merseyside-based team, they arguably put in their most insipid first-half performance this season.
The sloppiness in possession was a constant while in build-up, the Premier League champions took far too much time to turn defence into attack.
As a result, despite the presence of game-changers like Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku on the pitch, who were ready to serve Erling Haaland, Manchester City looked devoid of ideas for much of the contest against Everton.
Whether it was just a rare off day for most of the players or the fact that they might have taken the challenge lightly, they were forced to dig deep to secure the all-important three points.
