Pep Guardiola is keen to ‘build’ on Manchester City’s ‘solid’ defence as the club look to find consistent results and challenge for the title this season.
City currently sit ninth in the Premier League following last weekend’s goalless draw in the Manchester derby, six points adrift of league leaders Tottenham with a game in hand.
Guardiola’s side have shown encouraging signs defensively with only Spurs having conceded fewer goals so far this season, though their new-found solidity has coincided with a downturn in their attacking fortunes.
City have finished as the leading scorers in the Premier League in each of the past three campaigns and scored over a century of goals last season, though have managed just 17 from 11 fixtures and were criticised for a lacklustre showing at Old Trafford.
Guardiola has discussed his side’s start to the season and believes there are many positives on which to build upon, believing City’s solidity in defence can provide the foundation for a successful season.
“There are things that were so good and things we can improve,” Guardiola told a pre-match press conference.
“Sometimes it’s not easy because we don’t have much time to talk about it or train. We have to diagnose it.
“We have opportunities to get better. But there are many things that are good – the chances we concede so far, even games we lost, except Leeds, we concede not much – few I would say.
“That’s why we can build from here, be solid. We don’t concede much and from there we are going to grow.”
City return to Premier League action tonight ahead of a full midweek round of league fixtures, facing struggling West Bromwich Albion at the Etihad.
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