City captain Ilkay Gundogan struck twice in the first half of a 2-1 win over Leeds United, although a late strike from Rodrigo set up a tense finish.
City were unfortunate not to score more with Erling Haaland hitting the woodwork and Gundogan missing a penalty among a host of close chances but the City boss was happy with the way that his side controlled the vast majority of the match.
“The performance was excellent,” Guardiola said. “We played really good; we were not clinical enough but it’s football.
“I’m not going to explain my feelings about the game for the last five or six minutes. But in general it was really good - the first half was better than the second. But the second half was also under control.”
Guardiola made seven changes from the side that beat West Ham and was delighted with the players that came in as we secured a 10th successive victory in the Premier League.
It’s been a busy schedule since we took control of the destiny with a victory over Arsenal and he said that he needed to make changes.
“You cannot forget that we had three games in six days after a demanding game against Arsenal,” Guardiola added. “They are human beings. That’s why I had to rotate with seven players.
“Right after Fulham I didn’t have the feeling that I needed to rotate. The day after when I saw the game against West Ham, I had the feeling they were tired and I said we have to change it.
“All the guys that came in after not playing for a long time, like [Aymeric] Laporte, he was exceptional. All of them, Rico [Lewis] played exceptional.
“Everyone was incredibly focused knowing what we are playing for. But at 2-0 you have to close it and not give them anything. If you have control, you have control. Saying that it doesn’t matter. Gundo could have scored [the penalty] and the other ones could have missed.”
