In his post-Tottenham press conference, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola claimed that he still had work to do with his Manchester City side to improve their record in big games.

What did he say?

“We have a lot of things to improve, individually and collectively to be a real contender…

“…When you have 15-20 minutes in the second half with the chances that we had, you have to try to close the game, when it’s open anything can happen.

“In the important, important games you will not survive.”

What did he really mean?

Having won the Premier League title last season, City now clearly feel confident that they can sweep aside some of the smaller teams in the division. However, against Spurs they missed a number of chances to kill the game off, and Guardiola worried that this could cost his side.

On another day, Erik Lamela would have hit the back of the net with his late chance to make the score 1-1, and the missed penalty and two dropped points against Liverpool could still come back to haunt City, although it is a worrying thought for the rest of the Premier League that Guardiola thinks they can improve even further.

European struggles

City fans would also love a run in the Champions League this season, and this is perhaps where they need to improve the most. The Manchester side clearly have one of the best squads in Europe, but it could well be a mentality issue that has stopped them from progressing into the latter stages of the top European competition so far.

If Pep gets his way and City do learn to be more clinical in those big games then the rest of Europe should be watching their backs, however the fact that he feels his team does have weaknesses should send a message to other Premier League clubs that they are there to be exploited.