After Manchester City’s Community Shield defeat, manager Pep Guardiola had a message for his players.
After Manchester City’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Community Shield, Pep Guardiola told his players that he was proud of them.
Jurgen Klopp’s side started the stronger and took a first-half lead when Nathan Ake could only glance in Trent Alexander-effort, Arnold’s but Julian Alvarez pounced in the second half to bring City back into the game. However, eight minutes from time, Mohamed Salah converted a penalty after Ruben Dias handled a Darwin Nunez header, and the new Liverpool signing then headed home to seal the victory.
Guardiola congratulated Liverpool on their victory but was pleased with his team’s performance as they prepare to defend their Premier League title against West Ham United next Sunday.
“Congratulations to Liverpool,” he began, “they were faster in the first 15-20 minutes.” Then we got our game, and the last 20-25 minutes were very similar. We started the second half really well; after the goal, our game was on point, and we were strong and confident against this team.
“Even in the first half, we had enough chances, and after one clear action, you lose the ball and they make the transition and the penalty, and it became more difficult after that.
“We have [only] two weeks and a little bit since we started, so we can’t expect [too much], but they gave everything in general,” I told the players afterward how proud I was of them for giving their all.
“We have to improve, and the timing isn’t much of what we have to do, especially since we need a long week of training games to get our tempo, which we will do.”
