Manchester City may be through to the fifth round of the FA Cup but that doesn’t mean that the City players lived up to the high expectations of coach Pep Guardiola. The 2-0 win over fourth-division Salford was an unremarkable affair and Guardiola appeared frustrated with his team’s performance.
Guardiola’s side needed an own goal from Alfie Dorrington to open the scoring and the second came late on, courtesy of a first City goal from Marc Guéhi. Speaking to reporters after the game, Guardiola admitted that he had been bored by his team’s showing.
When asked if he was happy with the performance, Guardiola replied: “No. We didn’t read the spaces where they were. With the spaces in attack it depends on how they defend it and we didn’t read it. That is the reason why the game was boring. The only good news is we go through. That’s all.”
That has been the story of City’s season to date, failing to convince but largely getting the job done. They have stumbled in the Premier League but still sit within four points of leaders Arsenal and are yet to play the Gunners at home.
The absence of the rested Erling Haaland changed City’s structure on Saturday and exposed a lack of on-ball fluency, a strange weakness for a Guardiola team. Nevertheless, City move into the fifth round of the FA Cup and are still in the hunt for all four competitions this year.