Man City's Pep Guardiola showed his elite mentality in interview after Man Utd win | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola is always hungry for improvement.

It is, after all, well within the Manchester City coach’s playbook to scold a player who’s just scored a hat-trick or dropped a Man of the Match performance because he’s just about spotted an imperceptible way in which they could have done better.

To some, it’s arbitrary and to others, it’s counterproductive, but in the hands of one of the greatest managers of all time, we’re inclined to think that it’s simply illustrative of his elite mentality.

Guardiola’s hunger for improvement

At the end of the day, if you’re going to survive in the pressure cooker of elite football management then you’ve got to constantly be sniffing out ways to get even better at every twist and turn.

If Guardiola was the type of coach to put his feet up and bask in his own ego on the back of winning a single league title, then he wouldn’t have become the prolific champion that we know him as today.

And that constant, irrepressible hunger to reach higher heights was yet again on full display as Guardiola digested the demolition job that City inflicted upon Manchester United this weekend.

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We’ll start easy…

Michu Chico Flores

Guardiola’s Man City demolish Man Utd

The reigning champions ran riot as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both helped themselves to hat-tricks, pulling away into a 4-0 half-time lead and even holding a 6-1 advantage going into the final exchanges.

Allowing Anthony Martial to bag a brace of consolation goals proved to be an anomalous blot on their copybook, but for the most part, you just had to hold your hands up and say that the Citizens were on a different planet.

At least, that’s how ourselves and almost every other living being who watched the game felt, other than – it seems – Mr. Guardiola himself.

While the 51-year-old was obviously pleased with one of the most aesthetically-pleasing results of his entire career, he nevertheless cut a surprisingly frustrated figure as he mused about elements of City’s play at the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola expresses his frustrations

During an interview with beIN SPORTS, Guardiola doubled down on his desire for more most explicitly, dishing out criticisms to such an extent that it made for quite a jarring listen for someone fresh from seeing City pull into a 6-1 lead.

And although facets of his frustration no doubt emanated from the concession of two late goals, you really did get the feeling that Guardiola wasn’t 100% satisfied across the board.

So much so, in fact, that the reporters couldn’t help but quip: “Pep, that’s scary,” so be sure to check out what must be one of the most negative interviews a coach who’s just seen his team score six goals has ever given.

Video: Guardiola shows his elite mentality in post-match interview

Wowers. You’d be mistaken for thinking that City had crawled their way over the line with some sort of scruffy 2-1 that they barely deserved.

How good can Man City get?

But alas, this is exactly the type of mentality that has made Guardiola such a winner, because he’s always looking at strategies to keep his City team on their toes and constantly devising ways that they can progress even further.

Guardiola also said in his post-match interview with Sky Sports: “We can win or lose, but the effort and the desire and helping each other [is important]. But there are many things that we can do better. Some players were not good today and have to improve.

“Perfection doesn’t exist, it’s impossible. But we must try to look there. We did good, we can do better, many, many players had sloppy passes. This is not good. We have to be more consistent. In some areas, we were still not good.”

Video: Guardiola doubles down on Man City analysis

If Guardiola thinks that City can get a lot, lot better than smashing their local rivals 6-3, then the Premier League really should be worried about how the rest of the season might play out.