Pep Guardiola snaps at Man City players despite putting four goals past West Ham

Pep Guardiola (Image: getty)

Pep Guardiola expressed his frustration at his team's performance despite their victory over West Ham. He vehemently denied that Manchester City are 'back' to their best form.

The team secured back-to-back wins and remained unbeaten in three games, thanks to Savinho's hat-trick of assists and Erling Haaland's 20th and 21st goals of the season. Phil Foden also returned to scoring ways as West Ham crumbled.

However, Guardiola was far from satisfied with his team's performance during a fiery press conference. "You judge the results. We saw in many years our level. We are not at our level," he stated.

"We won, we are so happy. But you judge results, the performance wasn't good. When we play good we know. The first minutes deserve to be 0-1, 0-2. We were lucky in the first goal.

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"We are a strong team because we run a lot and have the composure but now we don't have it. Very pleased for the result but you can't ask me if the old Manchester City is back. If you saw the game we are not. You saw many times what we have done with the opponents."

Guardiola further questioned his team's tactics, wondering why they appeared too 'anxious' and had stopped passing the ball effectively.

He added: "When we attack quick, the opponent attack quicker.

"So we have to make a build up, drop them and after make two thousand million passes. We don't pass the ball. That's why we suffer. We lose the ball too easy, that's why they can run. The opponents are good and when that happens we are miles distant. We need to find our tempo, the quality of the players."

The City boss also touched on the team's need for tempo and control: "It's not just because we don't have Rodri, of course he's irreplaceable. It's our game, still everything wants to be quick. Want to win 4-0 after 20 minutes. No. You have to take time. Have control in our hands. We are not built like many teams in England. Every season physicality in other teams has been stronger. But we let them run because with the ball we have been better. But now when you play that way, run more than ever. Now we have to recover that.

"He [reporter] asks if the old Manchester City and the way we play is back. No. You have to know it. You watched the games for years, we're not at the level, come on. If we lose it's a disaster and if we won it's a lot different. Against Everton we played much better than today. And we draw - big crisis, disaster.

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"I'm happy, we scored good goals, good actions, Savinho was good, Erling two more goals. Of course there are positives. But if you ask me if the team is playing like the years, absolutely not.

"We have to be honest about ourselves. Best way to improve is to accept reality. I know we don't have legs to come back, many situations without the ball. I know that. We lost Ruben, the pace with Manu. John is not here. It happens, but after that, you have every ball thinking 'tomorrow will finish my career.'

"Be calm, if you are anxious you don't take good decisions. Good defenders and strikers are not anxious. You have to be calm to read what happened. I know they want it. Of course the result will help us. We are not the best, okay, we will improve. Absolutely."