John Stones headed in Manchester City's opener in front of 56,232 fans in Nashville.Manchester
City manager Pep Guardiola says the display in Saturday's 3-0 friendly
win over Tottenham was better than any his side produced last season.John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Brahim Diaz scored as City dominated last season's Premier League runners-up."OK, it is pre-season, but we didn't have a performance last season of that quality and intensity," Guardiola said.City beat Real Madrid and lost to Manchester United in their other two International Champions Cup games.Spurs' only win in the competition came against Paris St-Germain, with Saturday's defeat adding to a loss against Roma."They
have invested more money than us and you can see we have a lot of young
players on the bench," said Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, who is
yet to add to his squad this summer."We are a little bit behind
but we are working hard to try to sign players that will help us, bring
us some new energy and make our team more competitive."Spurs fell behind when Stones nodded in Kevin de Bruyne's deflected free-kick after 10 minutes in Nashville, USA.Gabriel
Jesus missed an open goal and Sergio Aguero twice hit the post, before
City increased their lead with 17 minutes remaining when Sterling
scampered clear to slide a low shot past Michel Vorm.Spanish 17-year-old Diaz added a third in stoppage time after two shots had been blocked.Gabriel Jesus missed an open goal for Manchester City
One feature of City's performance was the display of goalkeeper Ederson, who arrived from Benfica for £35m in June.
The
Brazilian looked uncomfortable on his debut against Manchester United,
but excelled against Real and made a series of fine saves against Spurs.
Furthermore,
his ability to send goal-kicks into the opposition penalty area also
caught the eye of former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola.
"When I was at Bayern, I played a Champions League game against Benfica and we saw it four or five times," said the Spaniard.
"You cannot be offside so it creates a chance and we can have more space in the middle."
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Guardiola
has signed six players already this summer and further changes to his
squad are expected before the 31 August transfer deadline.
He
remains interested in Monaco's 18-year-old France striker Kylian Mbappe
and Arsenal and Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, and he also wants another central defender.
Players
will leave, too. Strikers Wilfried Bony and Kelechi Ieahnacho have both
been left at home in anticipation of moves, with Guardiola confirming
he expects the latter to join Leicester.
Midfielder Samir Nasri
impressed against Tottenham, with his manager praising the 30-year-old's
"unbelievable ability" and "special quality" - but the former France
international's future still remains unclear.
"He knows the
situation, we have a lot of midfielders. That's a decision he has to
take with his agent," said Guardiola when asked about the former Arsenal
playmaker's chances of staying.
Pep Guardiola: Man City display against Tottenham 'better than any last season' tell maktaba blog
Reviewed by Maktaba
on
July 30, 2017
Rating: 5
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