Manuel Pellegrini says Manchester City are determined to become even better despite a third consecutive victory that makes the club the Premier League leaders with the division’s only 100% record with three matches played.
Goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri after 60 and 88 minutes ensured City defeated Everton at Goodison Park and a maximum nine points have been gathered. The clean sheet was also the third in a row as Pellegrini’s side equalled the club record nine consecutive league wins set in 1912, a run that started towards the end of last season.
Pellegrini was full of praise for his players, saying: “They work and work every day; especially when everyone is saying you are playing so well it is very easy to train a little comfortably. But I see every day they are working. In the [same] way they don’t believe what you did last game will be useful to win the next game. We are confident we must have an important squad and not just a team.”
City again convinced against Everton. This followed their domination of West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea in the previous matches, each of which was a 3-0 victory. Yet asked if the side is performing its best since Pellegrini took over in summer 2013, the Chilean said: “It is so difficult to compare. I don’t think you can. It is my third season. In my first we won both the Premier League and the Capital One Cup and we were the [highest] scoring team in the history. The important thing is that we are in a new season, we start playing well in three games and score goals in every game and have three clean sheets. It is important to continue.”
Pellegrini dismissed any notion that City’s start is sending a message to the other contenders for the title. “We are not clear about that … We are clear just to win the next game,” he said. “The next game was Everton. Now it is Watford [on Saturday]. What other teams think about our team is not our problem. The important thing is to be a consistent team until the end. That is why it was important to win here. They were a difficult team who scored five goals in their first two games.
“I knew about that. It is important that we have this season nine points and finish also last season playing very well because it is not easy to win six games in a row. We are continuing the way we finished last season.
“If you want to win silverware you have to be consistent. This team in the last three seasons always play the best football. Normally it is a team that goes forward, tries to score goals and doesn’t change the style.
“I think it is important to play attractive football and be an offensive team and, if you are an offensive team, it is very important to know how not to concede goals. The three games we have a high performance. There are a lot of things that all together make us a good team.”
Raheem Sterling created Kolarov’s opener with a clever pass. Pellegrini was glowing in his praise of the £49m summer signing. “We have different pace with Sterling. It’s a different way to play. It’s important to have different things to do during the game and have a good squad because we play so many games .
“He was very important today the whole game, especially in the first goal,” he said, before adding Sterling will contribute even more once he is fully integrated into the side. “It is difficult to settle in a new team but playing with David [Silva], with Kun [Sergio Agüero], with Yaya [Touré] he will become better because all of them are good players, experienced players.”
Roberto Martínez, Everton’s manager, again said the “plan” is for the Chelsea target John Stones to remain at the club when the window closes on 1 September.
