Soccer

Manchester City beat West Ham but ‘performance not good’, says Guardiola

Champions rediscover their scoring touch in their first Premier League outing of 2025

Erling Haaland celebrates scoring Manchester City's second goal. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
Erling Haaland celebrates scoring Manchester City's second goal. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
Sat Jan 04 2025 - 18:56
Premier League: Manchester City 4 (Coufal OG 10; Haaland 42, 55; Foden 58) West Ham United 1 (Fullkrug 71)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola welcomed his side’s 4-1 win over West Ham on Saturday but felt they were still far from their best.

Erling Haaland struck twice as the champions rediscovered their goalscoring touch at the Etihad Stadium to secure back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time since October.

The result took more heat off City after they claimed only their second win in 14 games in all competitions at Leicester last week, but Guardiola does not feel his team are back to their old selves yet.

“We saw in many years our level and we are not at our level. We won, I am so happy and it helps us. But you judge results, (when) our performance was not good,” said Guardiola.

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“I’m so happy for the guys, and the work ethic, but in the first minutes deserved to be 0-1, 0-2 and we were lucky with the first goal. We are a strong team (when) we run a lot and have the composure, but now we don’t have it.

“I’m very pleased for the result but you cannot ask me if the old City is back. If you saw the game, we are not. You saw many times during the years what we have done with the opponents.”

West Ham spurned two gilt-edged chances to take the lead before City went ahead when Vladimir Coufal turned Savinho’s cross into his own net.

Phil Foden got on the scoresheet for the hosts too but their best player was in-form winger Savinho, who also set up both of Haaland’s goals.

Man City's Phil Foden in action against West Ham's Konstantinos Mavropanos. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
Man City's Phil Foden in action against West Ham's Konstantinos Mavropanos. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images

Guardiola said: “Has a lot to improve – he’s not aggressive enough without the ball, he’s a little bit soft in many departments, but right now has something special and brilliant that helps the team a lot.

“He ‘scored’ a goal, was a bit lucky, but the two assists were brilliant. I’m so happy for him and he deserves to play.”

West Ham’s defeat, coming after a 5-0 thrashing at Liverpool, did nothing to ease the pressure on manager Julen Lopetegui, especially with his predecessor David Moyes spotted in the crowd.

The former Real Madrid boss could however bemoan his luck after early missed chances by Mohammed Kudus and Tomas Soucek, while Crysencio Summerville was harshly penalised for a foul when clean through.

Lopetegui, whose side did manage a consolation through Niclas Fullkrug, said: “It is not easy to explain the match. We deserved more in my opinion. A lot of little details worked against us.

“Not only did we not take advantage of two clear situations – we have to do better – but after they scored one goal we were very unlucky. We had a very clear situation with Summerville on (Manuel) Akanji. It was not a foul but the referee said foul. It was an unfair situation.

“We did very good things and positive things, but in the end it was not enough.”