Pep Guardiola knows what he is doing when he gently suggests that one of his players could be playing better. The Manchester City manager usually protects his squad to the hilt publicly, particularly if their performances are widely under the spotlight. One of the more memorable lines from the Amazon series documenting the 2017-18 title-winning season was his promise to defend his players “until the last day of my life at the press conference”.
And so when he suggests that someone could improve, he usually means it. That was certainly the case with Riyad Mahrez a few weeks ago. “We need him to come back to his best,” Guardiola said, when asked about the Algerian’s indifferent start to the new season, going as far as to suggest that a lack of fitness is a factor. “He has to come back to better physical condition.”
