Pep Guardiola pleased with Man City display at Stoke but eyes improvement

Pep Guardiola praised his Man City players following their 4-1 win over Stoke but said he wants more from his team in the final third.

Sergio Aguero and Nolito scored two each at the bet365 Stadium as City won Guardiola's first Premier League away game.

The new head coach has won all three of his competitive matches since taking charge, and although he was pleased with the performance on Saturday, he warned his side they must improve in attack.

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"Their goal in the first minute of the second half was a pity, and we just missed the last pass when we had a lot of counter-attacks in the second half," Guardiola told Sky Sports.

"We defended high and compact on the second balls and our wingers played amazing again. We played good with the ball and just missed the last action. We created good situations but the last pass was not good.

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"We arrived many times in the box with one against one and you have to try to finish the situation with a goal or corner or shot, but it's just one month together so we have time to get better.

"But I am really impressed again with the quality of the players. We are so happy."

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Referee Mike Dean awarded two penalties - one for each team - for similar infringements, with Ryan Shawcross punished for a pull on Nicolas Otamendi at a City corner and Raheem Sterling penalised for the visitors.

Guardiola had no complaints with the decisions, and said his team must be more careful when defending set-pieces.

"I heard the new rule but we defend with zonal marking and with zonal marking you don't go man-to-man so it's a little bit different," he continued. 

"We have to adjust because now the referees are so curious about what happens in the box so you have to be careful."

And the City head coach was complementary about Stoke's home support, adding: "It is always difficult, their corners are difficult and the crowd is amazing.

"I have to say congratulations for this amazing support. They press a lot for the players and the referee, for absolutely everything.

"They have a lot of quality in Bojan, [Marko] Arnautovic and we were lucky [Xherdan] Shaqiri wasn't there."